The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn't need to hold an emergency meeting while oil prices are improving, OPEC president and Iraqi oil minister said Wednesday.

"When (OPEC member) Iran called for an emergency meeting, prices were low," Abdul Kareem Luaiby told Dow Jones Newswires.

Now prices are improving, he added.

"If prices collapse or increase sharply, then there will be a need for an emergency meeting."

OPEC output last month exceeded the 30 million barrels a day ceiling the organization agreed upon at the last two meetings in December and June, he said.

The OPEC president said he hoped output from the organization wouldn't exceed the ceiling this month.

He said OPEC would continue to monitor prices in order to maintain stable and reasonable prices.

The price of OPEC's reference basket of crudes was $101.29 a barrel on Tuesday, according to the OPEC Secretariat. That's the highest level since May 30.

Since OPEC agreed to keep its official output level unchanged on June 14, the basket price has averaged $94.80 a barrel. It hit a low of $88.74 a barrel on June 22, the weakest level since Dec. 15, 2010 , OPEC data show.

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