According to Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran’s Oil Minister, Iran plans to raise oil production “at any cost” to defend the country’s market share. Iran backs calls for an emergency OPEC meeting to help shore up crude prices. “We will be raising our oil production at any cost and we have no other alternative. If Iran’s oil production hike is not done promptly, we will be losing our market share permanently”, said the Minister. Iran had the second-biggest oil output before the 2012 sanctions. Many companies are interested in developing the Iranian reserves and are ready to resume cooperation once the sanctions are lifted. Despite a large oil surplus on the global market, OPEC maintains the production of black gold at a record level. The OPEC member countries produced 32.1 billion barrels a day last month, while WTI and Brent crude are traded less than 40 and 45 US dollars per barrel respectively.