Zanganeh Describes Drop in Crude Prices as Politically-Motivated

(FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in a meeting with the country's lawmakers underlined that the sharp drop in oil prices in the international markets is the result of political plots.

"The oil minister termed the political issues as the root cause of the sharp drop in oil prices, and said that the oil ministry has done its best to stop this trend," Secretary of the Parliament's Energy Commission Ebrahim Neko told FNA after the meeting with the oil minister on Sunday.

He noted that Zanganeh presented the meeting with a report on the latest conditions of oil prices, and said, "The Iranian oil minister ensured that the reduction of oil prices in the recent weeks will not leave any negative impact on the country's budget for the next year."

In December, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the sudden decrease in oil prices in recent months is a plot hatched by the enemies against the regional people and Muslims.

"The fall of crude prices is not merely an economic issue, rather it is the result of certain states' political plot and planning," Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran.

"The decrease in oil price is a plot against the regional people and Muslims which merely serves the interests of some other countries," he added.

Stressing that the regional people will not forget these plots and betrayals against the Muslim world, Rouhani said, "Certainly, people will react to such schemes and the countries which have hatched this plot should know that they have just increased the Muslim world's hatred for themselves."

Rouhani downplayed the effects of falling oil price, and underlined his government's plans to boost non-oil exports to $50bln next year.

"One of the most important topics of the government's economic plans is increasing non-oil exports and this growth will help our economy," Rouhani said in Tehran, addressing an open session of the parliament in which he presented the budget bill for the next Iranian year (to start on March 21) to the legislative body.

"We hope to see a considerable share of non-oil exports next year and by continuing this trend, (the country' revenues from) non-oil exports will surpass $50bln," he added.

OPEC is an international organization and economic cartel whose mission is to coordinate the policies of the oil-producing countries. The goal is to secure a steady income to the member states and to collude in influencing world oil prices through economic means.

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization that was created at the Baghdad Conference on 10–14 September 1960, by Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Later it was joined by nine more governments: Libya, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Angola, and Gabon. OPEC was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland before moving to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965.