Iran's caretaker oil minister has said that oil today is not worth more than it was in 2002, when it was sold at 47 dollars per barrel.

The caretaker oil minister and managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Gholam-Hossein Nozari, noted that, in terms of purchasing power, today's 90-dollars-a-barrel oil is not stronger than the crude prices of $47 a barrel in 2002.

"Because of the rising inflation rate and the declining value of the dollar, which resulted from the increased prices of crude oil, the costs involved in producing oil products and maintaining services have skyrocketed," he explained.

"The huge amounts of cash flowing in the energy markets have resulted in a high number of crude oil transactions and the emergence of unpredictable demands," another NIOC official stated, referring to the reason for the unprecedented rise in oil prices.

"The US, the world's biggest crude oil and gasoline consumer, has the most influential role in the booming international oil markets," the NIOC's director of international affairs, Hojjatollah Ghanimifard said, adding that the US consumes 25 percent of the world's crude.

HSH/AA/GM