Non-OPEC Producers Agree to Cut Output

• Non-OPEC Producers Agree to Cut Output

Eleven non-OPEC oil-producing states including Russia agreed Saturday to cut their output by 558,000 barrels per day, OPEC said, in a joint bid to boost a saturated global market.

“I am happy to announce that a historic agreement has been reached”, said Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The decision, taken at a meeting at OPEC headquarters in Vienna, follows the cartel’s announcement on November 30 it would reduce its output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January, to 32.5 million bpd.

Under that deal, OPEC sought for oil-producing nations which are not members to lower their output by 600,000 barrels a day.

Russia had already signalled it would provide half of that production cut in the first half of 2017.

AFP