Informed sources told the Wall Street Journal that Algerian Oil Minister Salah Khebri had written to OPEC warning that a new drop in oil prices may warrant fresh discussions over the organization’s strategy.

“The letter asked OPEC to consider taking some form of action”, while Algeria had also pressed for closer cooperation with non-OPEC producers.

Brokerage firm RBC Capital Markets had warned previously that OPEC’s Fragile Five – Algeria, Angola, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela – all have tight budgets and so are at risk to “significant geopolitical instability and thus production issues”.

“Algeria has a significant social spending program, which remains key for social stability and will likely be difficult to maintain in this price environment,” RBC added.

In a related developed Reuters cited Iran’s Oil Minister, Bijan Zanganeh statement that “Iran endorses an emergency OPEC meeting and would not disagree with it”.

An emergency OPEC meeting may be “effective” in stabilizing the oil price, he explained.