Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari yesterday called for the stability of international oil market after a sharp crude price decline on Friday, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.

"We should be after market stability," Nozari told reporters Saturday after the opening ceremony of an oil forum held in Tehran. "Because the stability of the market is important both for the producer and the consumer."

Oil prices fell to less than 80 U.S. dollars per barrel on Friday for the first time in a year. On the New York Mercantile Exchange oil fell by 8.89 dollars to close at 77.70 dollars per barrel, its lowest price since Sept. 10, 2007.

Nozari contributed the continuous decline of oil price to the falling demand for oil due to global economic recession.

"Studies indicate that the current critical problem is what we have to do with demand in the market," he said, adding that "We must help to find solutions for Europe, the United States and parts of Asia to get out of their current financial turmoil."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members will meet in an extraordinary meeting on Nov. 18 in Vienna to review oil market conditions and falling prices, while the next OPEC ministerial meeting was set to be held on Dec. 17.

According to Press TV, the cartel is likely to cut production to shore up prices.

Oil price once reached a record high of US$147 per barrel in July, which was almost two times the price on Friday.

The OPEC oil ministers have decided on Sept.10 to cut the group's output by 520,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the next 40 days, but the oil price was still dropping after the decision.