Oil prices surge as OPEC agrees joint 1.2 mn bpd cut with partners
VIENNA, Dec 07 (AFP) - OPEC members and 10 other oil producing nations, including Russia, agreed Friday to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day in a bid to reverse falls in prices in recent months.
Energy ministers reached the deal -- which takes effect from January 1 but has already sent prices surging on oil markets -after two days of talks at OPEC headquarters in Vienna.
“OPEC group countries are contributing 800,000 barrels per day as a cut, and the non-OPEC (countries) will be contributing 400,000 barrels per day,” Emirati Oil Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei said at a news conference.
Mazrouei said that three countries had been allowed exemptions from the agreement due to “special circumstances”.
“Those countries are Iran and Venezuela because of the sanctions and Libya because of the fact that unfortunately they are on and off,” he added, alluding to the impact on Libyan production of continuing conflict there.
Mazrouei said that the exemptions mean that the cuts introduced by other member states are “going to be a bit higher than just the average for everyone”.
For his part Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak -- whose country is the world's second biggest producer of oil -- said that the agreement “should help the market reach a balance” and recognised that negotiations had been “complex”.