Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Each barrel of Iran's Heavy oil sold for $53.08 in the week to Feb. 16, $2.54 more compared to preceding week.
The price of Light oil also increased by $2.38 per each barrel and stood at $54.99 in the same period, the country's oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported Feb. 21.
The price of Iran's Heavy oil increased by $7.99 in the week to Feb. 9, meanwhile the Light oil price in the same period registered an increase by $7.31 compared to preceding week.
The price of OPEC basket of twelve crude oils stood at $54.12 in the same period. The maximum and minimum prices of the Basket in current year were about $56.83 and $41.5 per barrel respectively.
The basket price stood at $56.29 a barrel on Feb. 19.
OPEC's oil basket price was $107.89 in mid-June, but has been in dramatic decline, especially since October 2014.
OPEC members held a meeting in ministerial level November 27, 2014 to evaluate the global oil market and the falling trend of the oil price. Iran and Venezuela wanted to lower the Cartel's oil output and set a new ceiling level below the current 30 mbpd level.
OPEC said that the demand for OPEC crude is estimated at 29.1 mbpd in 2014, representing a decrease of 1.2 mbpd from last year level.
In 2015, required OPEC crude is projected at 29.2 mbpd, representing an increase by 0.1 mbpd from estimated 2014 level.
Iran is expected to face a budget deficit in the current Iranian fiscal year (to end March 20, 2015), due to the sharp fall in oil prices. Iran's current year budget envisages the price of $100 per barrel of oil.
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