October 21, 2003	Tuesday	Sha'aban 24, 1424

TEHRAN, Oct 20: Iran has no plans to pull out of Opec despite reported comments by one oil official at the weekend that it would be better for Iran to leave the cartel in the long run, an Iranian oil ministry official said on Monday.

Iran has no intention of pulling out of Opec for the moment, the Oil Ministry official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Iranian semi-official news agency reported Masoud Nili, deputy oil minister for economic affairs, as saying Iran may consider the move in the long term.

The ministry official said the suggestion was based on a long-term outlook and dependent on Iran substantially increasing its current oil output capacity of around four million bpd.

The second biggest producer in the cartel, Iran is generally considered to be a price hawk within Opec, frequently arguing for tighter production limits to prop up prices.—Reuters