TEHRAN, Dec. 06 (Shana) � Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the countries that have caused the glut in the market are responsible for current market state.

Oil prices have more than halved since June 2014 due to oversupply of the item by OPEC and non-OPEC producers. Every barrel of oil is traded at about $40 per barrel in the market.

"[The traders in] the market were already informed about OPEC's decision," Zangeneh said, adding and the countries that oversupply the market must bear its aftermaths.

There were two views among the OPEC members during the 168th meeting of the group, he said. "No ceiling was set for OPEC output as the members failed to reach an understanding."

"Some members tried to place the over 30m bpb ceiling for the group's output to legitimize their oversupply. It is now long while that some member countries produce as much as they wish. Even when the 30 million barrel a day ceiling was agreed upon by the members, some countries intended to produce about the ceiling which brought the group's supply to the current 31.5m bpd."

He said most OPEC members called for setting a ceiling for the group's output which was denied by other members.

Asked whether not defining a ceiling for OPEC output by the meeting's statement would legitimize the group's oversupply, he said: "[By the statement] we have not approved of the oversupply� if we agreed with a higher ceiling then we must bear the market's reaction but now the aftermaths of the oversupply is directed at those who have supplied more than the market's need."

He further said Iran has not candidates to replace OPEC Secretary General Salem el-Badri.

He said there is no need for an emergency OPEC meeting and "Iran will need no one's permission for raising its output by 500,000 bpd."

By SHANA