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Iran Minister Wants OPEC Oil Basket Back at $60 | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said he hoped the OPEC basket oil price would hit $60 a barrel or more in the next few days, Iranian state television quoted him on Saturday as saying.

The OPEC basket price was $54.19 a barrel on Tuesday, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said. The OPEC basket trades below U.S. crude which fell to just under $60 on Friday.

“Vaziri-Hamaneh expressed hope that the OPEC basket oil price reaches $60 or more in the coming days,” TV reported.

Oil prices have tumbled from a mid-July peak of almost $80 a barrel. OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said he hoped to secure a supply cut deal that would remove about 1 million barrels per day of oil from the market by Monday.

It seemed the political causes that created oil price fluctuations had been lifted and there was usually an increase in oil prices when the northern cold season approached, TV reported, quoting Vaziri-Hamaneh.