OPEC Emergency Meeting to Focus on Iraq Production

OPEC announced Monday that it will hold an emergency meeting late this month to try to halt the plunge in prices caused by worries that Iraq will soon resume selling crude oil.

The news helped send oil prices rallying on the New York Mercantile Exchange in heavy trading.

Cartel President Jean Ping, the Gabonese oil minister, will begin Wednesday to visit member nations in advance of the talks.

A statement issued by the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the special meeting is being called in late July “to discuss the current soft state of the international oil market.”

No date was set for the conference. But sources, demanding anonymity, said it will probably be held July 28 in Vienna.

Oil prices have tumbled sharply in recent days because of speculation that Iraq, one of the world’s largest suppliers, will soon return to the markets.