Iran says oil output hike would not affect price

TEHRAN, April 19 (Reuters) - Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday any increase in the output of crude would not succeed in bringing down global oil prices, a day after other OPEC members expressed concerns about costly oil hurting fragile economies in consumer countries.

At a conference at an oil and gas trade fair in Tehran attended by OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri, Iran’s top oil officials showed they remain bullish on price, contrasting with other OPEC countries which are wary of a slowing global economic growth. “An increase of production will have no impact on the prices,” said Massoud Mirkazemi, who has described oil prices that broke two-and-a-half year highs above $127 last week as “not extraordinary”.

OPEC ministers attending a meeting in Kuwait on Monday that Mirkazemi did not go to, said they were concerned that current prices of around $120 per barrel could undermine long-term economic growth and lead to a collapse in demand and prices in future years.

Brent crude futures fell by more than $1 to as low as $120.58 a barrel on Tuesday on concerns high oil prices could erode demand and on a weaker outlook for U.S. credit.

Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi, who said last week that oil was at “a good price for us”, predicted the demand for oil and its price would follow an upward trend for the rest of the year.

Iran currently holds the revolving one-year presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which groups 12 nations that pump almost a third of the world’s oil.

“Considering all the factors, it seems that the oil price will increase by the end of this year,” he told the conference.

OPEC’s Al-Badri said there was no shortage of oil in the market and that OPEC’s output was the same now as in December, before popular uprisings spread from Tunisia throughout the Middle East, hitting production in Libya.

“OPEC’s spare capacity is around 4.5 million bpd (barrels per day) even after the recent disruptions,”