Iran sees oil at around $40 in 2009 - Minister

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Oil Ministry anticipates a crude oil price of about $40 a barrel in 2009, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari was quoted as saying on Saturday, suggesting Tehran does not expect the market to rebound soon.

Nozari also said crude producers outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were not cooperating with the group in reducing output to restore stability, the official IRNA news agency reported.

U.S. light crude oil settled on Friday at around $36.5 per barrel, down more than $110 since July as the global economic downturn hit energy demand. [O/R]

"In the opinion of the Oil Ministry, taking into account predictions by various international institutes, the anticipated oil price in the year 2009 will be around $40," Nozari said according to IRNA.

He said the ministry had proposed to the government that the price of oil be set at that level in the 2009-10 budget, which runs from March.

OPEC ministers agreed in December to cut production by a record 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), taking total curbs since September to 4.2 million bpd, the equivalent of 5 percent of global oil supply.

But Nozari said supply from non-OPEC producers was expected to grow by 600,000 bpd during the year, without naming them.

"Under these conditions OPEC member countries decided to cut output but non-OPEC countries are not cooperating," he said.

Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, faced criticism from OPEC last month for refusing to join in the effort to support energy prices.