Reuters: OPEC will review oil market conditions at an emergency meeting planned for mid-November in Vienna, Iran's oil minister said, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
TEHRAN (Reuters) – OPEC will review oil market conditions at an emergency meeting planned for mid-November in Vienna, Iran's oil minister said, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
"OPEC members will have an emergency meeting to review oil market conditions in mid-November in Vienna. At this meeting the reasons behind the oil price decrease will be studied," Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari told IRNA.
The semi-official Mehr news agency later quoted an Oil Ministry statement as saying OPEC members were holding talks which it said increased the chances of an emergency meeting.
The ministry said Iran was among OPEC members that would welcome holding such a meeting aimed at preventing further price falls, Mehr said. Oil officials were not immediately available for comment on the reports.
Oil prices have fallen from a record high of $147.27 in July to around $89 a barrel in response to deepening global economic gloom. The sharp fall has prompted OPEC to consider holding talks to review output.
The meeting is likely to be on or near November 18 in Vienna, and OPEC's headquarters in the Austrian capital may issue a statement later on Thursday confirming arrangements, OPEC sources said.
Nigeria, Qatar, Libya and Iraq, all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, have this week floated the idea of a cut in output.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, is often among the first of the 13-member group to seek to maintain higher prices.
The country's OPEC governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, this week told Reuters Iran was concerned the global financial crisis was having a bigger impact on oil demand than previously expected.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian, Simon Webb and Alex Lawler; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by James Jukwey)
