Market does not need more OPEC oil: Iran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The oil market does not need OPEC to increase output, Iran's representative to the producer organization was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.

Mohammad Ali Khatibi cited signs of global economic recovery, a weaker U.S. dollar and the beginning of the cold season in Europe and the United States as factors behind a recent rise in the oil price, IRNA reported.

"Under current conditions, requesting OPEC to increase its crude output in order to decrease the oil price would be an improper request," Khatibi said. "Currently the market does not need OPEC's output rise."

He added: "The amount of OPEC output should be based on the market's demand, not be aimed at decreasing the oil price."

Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi described conditions in the oil market as "positive," the Oil Ministry web site SHANA reported.

"In case of any changes in these conditions there could be some possibilities of changes in OPEC output levels," Mirkazemi was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

Oil prices rose to a one-year high of $82 last week, after rallying 17 percent since October 10, coinciding with higher global stock indices and a weaker dollar. But crude has since retreated to trade at below $79 on Tuesday.

OPEC, whose members pump more than a third of the world's oil, slashed output in 2008 to halt a slide in prices from a peak of about $147 a barrel reached earlier in the year.

(Reporting by Reza Derakhshi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by William Hardy)