DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister said on Monday that consultations with other Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members to stop a further drop in oil prices have yet to bear fruit but Tehran had no plans to call an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss prices.
Bijan Zanganeh, in remarks posted on the oil ministry's website SHANA, called for increased cooperation among OPEC members to balance the market to ensure a reasonable oil price for investors and producers.
Zanganeh said that Iran's budget should be based on oil at $72 per barrel, but Iran could withstand lower oil prices. "Even if the oil price goes down to $25 a barrel, the oil industry will not be threatened," the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
(Reporting by Michelle Moghtader in Dubai and Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; editing by Sami Aboudi and Jason Neely)