Iran blames the drop in oil prices to increase production from outside OPEC

News agency quoted the Islamic republic of Iran, told Reuters from Iran's oil minister said on Sunday that the increase in crude production from non-member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has an adverse impact on oil prices. The agency quoted the official to the Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi as saying that "despite the fact that OPEC cut its production ceiling several times, producers increased non-OPEC oil output, which had a negative impact on the price of crude." The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Angola on December 22 to decide on its policy of oil production. Iran says it has no reason to increase OPEC production. OPEC said on Friday that the price of its basket of crudes fell to 76.77 dollars a barrel on Thursday from 77.87 dollars on Wednesday. Oil prices touched their highest levels this year when it recorded $ 82 a barrel in late October, an increase of about 150 percent since the record low level at $ 32.40 last December. U.S. crude fell slightly to about 80 dollars, which is only slightly more than half of the highest level on record he set last year near $ 150 a barrel.m.e