A release of U.S. stockpiled oil--if it happens--may be driven by electoral considerations, not market needs, as there isn't a supply shortage, a top Iranian official said Friday.

New speculation emerged Thursday that the U.S. government may tap again into its emergency oil stockpiles after prices rose back above $110 a barrel in recent weeks.

But speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran 's governor at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said: "the market is balanced now. There is no shortage. This is not the time for a stock release."

So if the U.S. government was to undertake such a move, "my guess is that there is a relation between the release and elections," he said. U.S. president Barack Obama is up for re-election in November and the issue of high oil prices has emerged as a contentious one during his campaign.

"Maybe they [the U.S. government] will manipulate the prices," Mr. Khatibi said. "Due to some election, they may be trying to use it [an emergency release] as a tool to influence voters."

The Petroleum Policy Intelligence newsletter Thursday described a stock release as "imminent," saying that "as far as the U.S. is concerned, the decision appears to have been taken."

A White House spokesman said last week that "all options remain on the table" about drawing from stockpiles, as it did last year to fill the gap left by the absence of Libyan barrels due to the battle to overthrow Col Moammar Gadhafi.

Yet, the U.S. could face the opposition of the International Energy Agency, which normally coordinates such moves by consumers and has described the oil market as adequately supplied.

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