Crude may touch $70 per barrel: Iran

Iran, the second largest producer of crude, is expecting crude oil prices to touch $70 per barrel by the end of 2005 due to demand-supply mismatch.

"Many experts expect oil prices to reach $70 per barrel at the end of this year. We think it may happen," Iranian deputy oil minister Nejad Hosseinian said today.

He said oil prices were at an all-time high as "demand is higher than supplies, and it will take time for producers to increase supplies of crude."