OPEC agrees to extend output cuts by one month: Iran minister
Members of The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have agreed to extend a deal on reduction of output provided that non-OPEC producers would comply with their share of the cuts, according to Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
According to Press TV, Zanganeh said on Saturday after the 179th OPEC meeting which was held via video conference that members of the oil producing cartel had unanimously agreed to extend cuts by nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd) by one more month.
“It was agreed that output reduction deal of 9.7 million bpd would be conditioned on the cooperation of 10 non-OPEC countries,” said Zanganeh.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries, a grouping known as OPEC+, agreed in April to substantially reduce production to help ease a supply glut in the market that had been caused by the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic and exacerbated by a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia on the size of cuts.
Sources said on Saturday that the one-month extension to the output cuts would gain the approval of OPEC+ members in a meeting planned for later in the day.
Meanwhile, Zanganeh said that a main debate in the Saturday meeting of OPEC was about Iraq’s lack of commitment to production cuts.
He said OPEC members agreed to allow Iraq to implement more cuts in the upcoming months to comply with the quota set for the Arab country.
Iran, whose sale of oil has been affected by the American sanctions, is exempt from OPEC+ output cuts along Venezuela and Libya.
ME
