Tehran wants $100 oil

TEHRAN, March 8 (UPI) -- Tehran believes $100 per barrel of crude oil is a fair price as modest improvements in the global economy push prices closer to $80, officials said.

Economic analysts said the latest data on U.S. employment showed there was recovery anticipated in 2010. That pushed oil to more than $80 Monday.

Mohammad Ali Khatibi, the Iranian envoy to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, told the Mehr News Agency that oil prices were suppressed.

"The average price of crude in the international market has been $75 a barrel since the beginning of the year, when its fair price should be around $100 a barrel," he said Monday.

Khatibi added that, when adjusted for inflation and currency fluctuation, the price of oil was around $14 per barrel when compared to the height of the oil embargo in the 1970s.

OPEC ahead of the economic recession the gripped world markets in 2009 established production quotas with the goal of bringing oil prices into profitable territory. Crude oil prices reached $147 per barrel in July 2008 before collapsing to less than $50.

Khatibi complained some oil-producing nations were hoarding inventories, which he blamed for creating poor market conditions.