Iran says Trump ‘main culprit’ of oil price hikes

OPEC will balance oil markets: Nigerian official

TEHRAN, Sept 26, (Agencies): US President Donald Trump is the “main culprit” to blame for a recent surge in oil prices, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Wednesday.

“The main culprit of the price hikes... and the destabilisation of the market is Mr Trump and his disruptive and illegal policies,” Zanganeh said on state television, after the US president hit out at OPEC accusing it of “ripping off the rest of the world”.

“Mr Trump both tries to decrease Iran’s oil exports significantly and also wants prices not to go up. These two can’t happen together,” Zanganeh said, alluding to US sanctions on Iran’s oil sales set to take effect in November.

Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May, and his administration imposed a round of sanctions on the Islamic republic in August.

Zanganeh said if Trump wants prices to ease then he has to “stop his unwarranted interference... in the Middle East and not prevent Iran’s production and exports”.

“It’s interesting that Mr Macron also explicitly pointed to this,” Zanganeh said, referring to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after addressing the UN General Assembly, Macron said Iran should be allowed to keep selling oil and called for dialogue as he rejected a US push to isolate the clerical regime. “It would be good for the price of oil for Iran to be able to sell it,” the French leader said. “It’s good for peace and it’s good for the shape of the international price of oil.”

Meanwhile, The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will act to balance the market after oil prices hit their highest in four years, but its options may be limited by available spare capacity, a Nigerian oil industry official said on Wednesday.

“It’s obvious that if you have high prices it’ll affect demand, so you have to do some market balance,” Malam Mele Kyari, head of crude oil marketing at Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC and also

the country’s OPEC representative, told Reuters.

“OPEC will do everything to stabilise, to balance the market but I’m sure you’re also aware that there’s a limit to what they can do. You must have the spare capacity,” Kyari said. Oil prices surged this week on uncertainty over the global supply outlook following US sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and also as Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out any immediate boost to output.

Kyari said Nigeria planned to increase its crude oil, condensate output by 100,000 barrels per day by the end of the year, up from about 2 million bpd currently.