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Iranian president: Countries behind oil price drop to regret it

Hassan Rouhani said Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will suffer more than Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani EPA/JASON SZENES
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
© EPA/JASON SZENES

TEHRAN, January 13. /TASS/. The countries, which have planned to lower oil prices, will regret their decision, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday.

"If Iran suffers from the drop in oil prices, know that other oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will suffer more than Iran," he added.

The price of Brent crude fell by 4.3% on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London on Tuesday to $45.39 per barrel while WTI dropped by 3.39% to $44.52 per barrel by 07:50 GMT, hitting their lows since the spring of 2009.

United Arab Emirates oil minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said on Tuesday that OPEC cannot protect the world oil prices.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his most recent press conference in december said that he doesn't rule out the possibility of a price conspiracy between Saudi Arabia and the US on the market of energy resources. It's not, however, possible to confirm that, according to the president.

“There’s a lot of talk around” in what concerns the causes for the slide of oil prices, he said at a major annual news conference. “Some people say there is conspiracy between Saudi Arabia and the US in order to punish Iran or to depress the Russian economy or to exert impact on Venezuela.”

“It might be really so or might be different, or there might be the struggle of traditional producers of crude oil and shale oil,” Putin said. “Given the current situation on the market the production of shale oil and gas has practically reached the level of zero operating costs.”

“If this rate is kept up, everything will fall apart (in the production of shale oil — TASS) and the prices will start climbing,” he said. “But we can’t tell this with a hundred percent assuredness.”