(Ecofin Agency) - Iran has opposed Nigeria’s call for an emergency meeting, stating that it is not yet time for such intervention.

According to the country’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, the group as at present has no plan of making a drastic change. “There should be an intention to make a firm decision in such a meeting; otherwise, the meeting will have negative impacts on world oil markets. The important thing is that there must be an intention for change, but we have not yet received such a signal,” Zanganeh said.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had called for an emergency meeting to discuss measures to reduce oil production and bolster oil prices while speaking at a panel session at the ongoing World Economic Forum. He stated that the call was on behalf of other OPEC members, such as Venezuela, who are demanding for an emergency meeting to address the current oil crisis.

“There is a lot of energy around trying to meet earlier. Obviously, some of that is a panic reaction. Do we just sit back and watch? Or do we put more efforts in talking to countries, like Russia, to try to get some consensus of what we need to be doing?” Kachikwu said.

As the prices of oil stumbled from $114 a barrel in 2014 to less than $30 a barrel, analysts have said that OPEC would have to make a very soon.

Nigeria as well as several other oil-dependent countries’ economy, has faced a sharp decrease. Some OPEC members such as Venezuela had requested for an emergency meeting while others such as Saudi Arabia, which is aware of the happenings in Iran as regards oil production, so far has not made any statement concerning the issue, Leadership news reports.

Anita Fatunji