ZURICH, Sept 15: World oil supply is sufficient and may even be more than sufficient despite a recent spike in oil prices, Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari told a Swiss newspaper.

“In any case we at Opec believe that the current supply is sufficient, if not slightly too large,” Nozari told Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger on Saturday.

Speculation and refinery capacities also played a role in the spike of oil prices, Nozari said.

Opec agreed this week to increase output by 500,000 barrels per day from Nov 1 as oil prices hit a record of over $80 per barrel and the group has expressed concern that turmoil in world financial markets could hurt US and global economic growth, which could dent oil demand.

Nozari said Iran had got used to the sanctions imposed by the US.

“In the past two years, we managed to attract $37 billion of investments in our oil industry,” he said.“We have got used to the sanctions of the United States. We have learned how to handle them,” he said.When asked how Iran dealt with the pressure the United States was exercising on other countries to end business relations with the country Nozari said: “Let me be open: Those countries that need energy, will resolve this problem somehow.” The oil minister also said that Iran would significantly increase its daily oil production in the coming years from the currently 4.2 million barrels per day.

“Until the end of our fifth five-year plan in 2014 our production capacity should be 5.3 million barrels per day.—Reuters