Iranian oil minister calls for emergency OPEC meeting

The Iranian oil minister on Saturday called for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to hold an emergency meeting to cut output as oil prices have dipped to a "critical level" under $100 a barrel, MNA reported.

"We have asked the secretary general to set up an emergency meeting as prices have become irrational," Rostam Qasemi was quoted as saying by the Shana News Agency. Qasemi stressed that the last OPEC meeting, on June 14, had decided the organization's overall quota would be 30 million barrels but "members' production has reached 33 million barrels a day." (News agencies)