Iran is concerned that the deepening global financial crisis is having a bigger impact on oil demand growth than previously expected, the Islamic Republic's Opec governor said on Tuesday. It was too early to say if the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) would have to cut production at its December meeting to match lower demand growth, Muhammad Ali Khatibi told Reuters in an interview.
"We are worried about demand," Khatibi said. "The financial crisis is deeper than we expected and this is definitely influencing world oil demand." Opec, source of more than a third of the world's oil, may have to revise down its forecast for demand growth of around 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2009, he said.
Fellow Opec member Ecuador said on Monday that the group would analyse the impact of the crisis on demand and set production levels accordingly. To date, Iran has noticed no slackening in demand for its crude from Asia, Khatibi said. "These financial problems seem to be spreading, but Asia remains the engine of oil demand growth and we haven't yet seen any indication that demand has been influenced," Khatibi said.
There were no moves among Opec members to hold an emergency meeting before December, Khatibi said. US oil fell to an eight-month low on Monday of $87.56 on concern that the world economy would fall into recession.
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