Iran said on Saturday
that any oil output increase by the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries as requested by the U.S. wouldn't affect soaring
prices.
"This would only increase inventories," Oil
Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters in reaction to U.S.
President George W. Bush pressing OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia to raise
oil output.
"The market is oversupplied and increasing
production will not affect prices," the oil minister said when
asked whether an OPEC output hike would lower prices.
On
Friday, light, sweet crude for June delivery settled up $2.17, or
1.8%, at a record close of $126.29 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, prices surged to $127.82
a barrel, also a new high.
Saudi Arabia said global supply
was balanced with demand but revealed that it had increased
production by 300,000 barrels per day this month.
Iran is the
world's fourth largest oil exporter.
When prices reached $115
a barrel last month Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said oil
was priced too low and that the commodity "should find its real
value."