OPEC will discuss high oil stocks, Iran says

Bulging global oil inventories remain a major concern for OPEC member states, even as signs of a possible the global economic recovery grow, and will likely be be a topic when the group meets next week in Vienna, Iran's OPEC governor said Monday.

"Everyone is worried about the current stock levels... for both OECD countries and floating storage," Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"It may be considered by ministers a policy within one year, maybe a lower or higher period, to bring stock levels back down to normal."

The IEA said in its August report, stocks in developed countries stood at around 61.7 days of forward cover at the end of June, unchanged from the previous month and only just below a peak of 62.4 days at the end of March. Opec members have in the past said they would be much more comfortable if stock levels came back to a five-year average of around 52 days and Khatibi reiterated that.

"The five-year average for OECD stock levels is a good base, anything higher than that is risky," he said. In addition to high stocks on land, millions of of barrels of fuel have been stored at sea.