OPEC agrees joint 1.2mn bpd output cut despite US pressure
Tehran (KNA) - Member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 10 other oil producing nations have agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day despite opposition from US President Donald Trump's administration.
After two days of talks at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, OPEC and non-OPEC countries, including Russia, reached the deal on Friday to slash their output from January 1, 2019 in a bid to raise crude prices. The US had sought a reduction in oil prices.
"We'll cut 1.2 million bpd total," Iraq's Oil Minister Thamer Abbas al-Ghadhban told reporters after the meeting.
He added that the 14 OPEC members would curb their output by 800,000 bpd while the 10 non-OPEC allies would contribute a 400,000 bpd reduction.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also confirmed the combined output cuts and said the market would be oversupplied through the first half of the year.
However, the Friday's deal exempted Iran, along with Venezuela and Libya.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the session, Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh expressed his satisfaction with the decision.
He added that the negotiations were "difficult and complicated" but led to a result in favor of the OPEC member states and Iran.
"OPEC does not want to be pressured from outside the organization. I do not know when the US administration will take lessons from this trend," the Iranian petroleum minister said.
Source: PressTV