Iran wants new oil output cut, price of $70-100

By Zahra Hosseinian

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran wants OPEC to cut oil output by a further 1 to 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) when it meets in Cairo later this month, the Islamic Republic's representative to the cartel was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Iran's OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi also said talks were underway on cooperation with crude producers outside OPEC to reduce output, after the oil price fell by more than 60 percent from a peak of around $147 per barrel in July.

He told state television that members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), supplier of more than a third of the world's oil, needed a price of at least $70-100.

The market remained oversupplied, despite a move by OPEC to reduce production by 1.5 million bpd last month, he said.

"This is the minimum price that we believe should exist," he said in a live interview. "If prices are lower we believe the global oil industry chain will be faced with problems."

The oil price has tumbled in recent months as the global economic crisis hit demand in big consumer nations, with U.S. crude falling $1.20 to $57.04 on Friday.

OPEC countries, expected to meet in the Egyptian capital on Nov. 29, are calling for action to halt oil's slide as they face reduced revenues and a struggle to finance domestic projects.

The website of state broadcaster IRIB said Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer and seen as a price hawk, would propose that OPEC reduce its output again at the meeting in two weeks' time.