iran hints at oil production boost

July 2, 2008

Iran hints at oil production boost.

MADRID, Spain. Iran hinted at a possible increase in its production of crude oil to stabilize prices as they hovered above $140 a barrel.

Speaking as he prepared to deliver a briefing on his country's oil industry at the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, Gholam Hossein Nozari dismissed the possibility of prices moving to $170 or even $200 a barrel. "We can control," he told CNN.

Asked what Iran would do to control prices, he replied "By the supply, the market."

Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer, with a current official allocation of 4.1 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer in the oil producers' cartel, with an allocation of 9.1 million barrels a day, but has announced it is hiking production to 9.7 million.

Tuesday, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said his country would raise its crude oil production again only if demand rises beyond the extra half-million barrels a day it pledged to start pumping in June.