Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari says future crude prices cannot be predicted, refuting forecasts that oil prices will skyrocket.

"Oil prices for the coming months cannot be predicted," Nozari told ISNA in an interview on Monday.

"Crude prices will depend on a variety of factors, including weather conditions," he explained.

Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said last week amid speculation of crude skyrocketing that there is no prospect of crude reaching $250 a barrel in the near future.

"When experts study oil hikes and declines, they first evaluate which factors should be taken into consideration and whether the processed information spans a long enough time," the Iranian official argued.

"Figures [that suggest a surge to $250] are perhaps predictions with no scientific basis," he told Mehr News Agency in a Friday interview.

He was responding to Chief Executive of the Russian energy giant, Gazprom Alexei Miller, who warned on June 10 that oil prices could reach as high as $250 a barrel by next year.

Oil prices on Thursday surged to an all-time high of over $146 a barrel. Brent peaked at $146.69 before falling back to $146.08; US crude jumped $1.72 to $145.29 after having hit $145.85.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter; it produces over 4.2 million barrels of crude per day.

© Press TV