MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier Wednesday, OPEC conference president Mohammed Bin Saleh Sada said that the countries had agreed to reduce oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day to bring its ceiling to 32.5 million barrels daily effective from January 2017.
"We welcome OPEC reaching an agreement on oil production cuts in the first half of 2017 to the level of 32.5 million barrels per day, which is equivalent to a reduction by 1.2 million barrels per day," Novak told reporters.
"Russia is ready to join the agreement stabilizing the situation on oil markets," he said, adding that Moscow expects the maximum possible number of non-OPEC states to join the cartel’s agreement on oil production cuts.
Oil market turbulence caused oil prices to plunge from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 per barrel in January 2016, causing hardship for oil exporters and placing a number of global oil producers at risk of bankruptcy. Since then, prices have slightly increased and are currently at $45-50 per barrel.
The previous oil producers' talks to freeze output failed in April after Iran refused to limit its output, prompting Saudi Arabia to pull out as well. Under the new deal, Iran has been granted exemptions from production cuts alongside Libya and Nigeria.
