TEHRAN-Iran sold light crude oil at $56.26 per barrel on average in April, a $4.99 rise from $51.27 in March, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its latest report.

 
The country traded crude oil at $50.88 on average during the first four months of 2015, the report added.

On January 1, Reuters quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying that falling world oil prices will hurt countries across the Middle East unless Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, takes action to reverse the slump. 

“There are several reasons for the drop of the price of oil but Saudi Arabia can take a step to have a productive role in this situation,” Abdollahian said. 

In December 2014, Saudi Arabia said that it would not cut output to prop up oil markets even if non-OPEC nations did so.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has set an output target of 5.7 million barrels per day of crude oil by 2018, according to official statements.    

With holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest crude oil reserves. 

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