Iran’s crude oil price crossed the $102 barrel mark in the international market.
Each barrel of OPEC crude oil was traded at $107.75 pb on April 18, an increase of 12 cents.
According to the International Affairs Office of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Iran’s light crude oil was traded at the Persian Gulf fob price of $102.50 pb in the Asian market, $101.62 in northeast Europe, $100.81 in the Mediterranean, and $103.41 in South Africa, news reports said.
Each barrel of Iranian heavy crude was traded at $98.20 pb in Asia, $99.39 in northeast Europe, $98.66 in the Mediterranean, and $102.21 in South Africa.
According to the NIOC International Affairs Office, Iranian oil was traded at an average price of 100.62 per barrel.
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries supply 40 percent of the world’s crude oil. OPEC is the world’s top oil organization grouping Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Ecuador (which rejoined OPEC in November 2007).
The 13-nation organization has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965.
a barrel By Jane Merriman
Oil rose to a record high above $118 on Tuesday, boosted by a jump in oil demand last month from China, the world’s second biggest energy consumer, and worries about supply from key producers Russia and Nigeria.
US light crude for May delivery was up 25 cents at $117.73 a barrel by 1108 GMT (7:08 a.m. EDT), easing from an all-time peak of $118.05 hit earlier in the day.
London Brent crude was up 40 cents at $114.83 a barrel, after rising to a record peak of $115.03.
Oil has hit a string of record highs this month, driven by booming demand from emerging markets such as China that has coincided with long-term supply constraints.
A weak US dollar has also played a part in boosting the price of dollar-denominated commodities like oil and also attracted speculative inflows from hedge funds.
China’s oil demand leapt 8 percent in March from a year ago, the fastest rate in 19 months as refiners boosted imports ahead of the Olympics.
But the high cost of producing more oil plus political constraints on new supplies mean the market looks set to struggle to keep pace with growing emerging market demand.
The OPEC has insisted the market has enough oil and refused to pump more crude despite calls for more oil from consumer nations.

Officials warned on Tuesday that the sole power plant in the Gaza Strip would shut down within 30 hours if Israel does not resume fuel shipments to the isolated territory.
“The supply of fuel will only last another 30 hours, which means that we expect the power generating plant will stop on Wednesday night,“ Kanaan Obeid, vice president of Gaza’s power authority, told a press conference, AFP reported.
He went on to say that reserves of industrial-grade fuel have dwindled to 400,000 liters (106,000 gallons) since Israel halted fuel deliveries after Palestinian militants attacked the territory’s main fuel terminal on Thursday.
The Israeli army’s coordinating office and the private Israeli company charged with supplying fuel to Gaza declined to comment on the matter.
Israel cut fuel supplies for the power plant by half and halted the supply of petrol and diesel after Palestinians attacked the Nahal Oz fuel terminal two weeks ago, killing two Israelis.
It resumed shipments of fuel for the power plant a few days later, but froze them again last week after another attack killed three Israeli soldiers near the same terminal.
In the past two weeks Palestinian militants have attacked border crossings on five occasions in a bid to break a months-long embargo of the territory.
The Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement sent a request to Israel’s attorney general warning that the cuts “violate the state’s commitment to the Israeli supreme court to permit a minimum amount of fuel to enter Gaza.“
The Israeli human rights group warned that with the power plant out, the impoverished territory would face power cuts of eight to 16 hours a day.
The plant provides around 30 percent of the territory’s electricity, with most of the rest supplied from Israel and a small amount from Egypt.

IranÕs Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (l) stands beside his two counterparts, French Bernard Kouchner (c) and Syrian Walid Al-Muallem, as they pose for group picture during the opening session of a ministerial conference on Iraq in Kuwait City, April 22.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Tuesday called on Iraq’s neighbors to spare no effort to help restore peace, security and stability in the war-torn Arab country.
Addressing a meeting of the neighboring states in Kuwait, he said all regional powers should cooperate and help rebuild Iraq.
Referring to the priorities set by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for 2008 to address his country’s major ills, he appealed for all out efforts by all countries, Iraq’s neighbors in particular, to help implement Maliki’s program.
“It is crucial to extend more assistance under the current situation to the Iraqi nation,“ IRNA quoted him as saying.
Mottaki voiced renewed concern over the continued presence of foreign forces in Iraq who are known to be sheltering terrorist groups targeting the country’s stability and security.
“Iran believes that the Iraqi people should be able to manage their own affairs,“ the senior diplomat said and called for ending unwanted western interference in the neighboring Muslim state. Tehran continues to maintain the belief that foreign armies and occupiers are the root cause of instability in that country, he told the high-profile session in the Persian Gulf emirate.
Forging unity and dialogue among Iraqi political groups would help boost Iraqi identity as an Arab and Islamic country, the minister said. “We believe reopening the political missions of neighboring states in Iraq will be effective in restoring political stability and security there.“

Iran gave an upbeat assessment on Tuesday of two days of talks with the top investigator of the IAEA Olli Heinonen in Tehran.