Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce their oil output to 32.5mb/d from the current production levels of around 33.24mb/d, with global prices of oil jumping by more than 5% in response to the agreement, Reuters reported.
OPEC agreed to the outline of a deal that will cut production for the first time in eight years, surprising traders who had expected a continuation of the pump-at-will policy the group adopted in 2014 at the instigation of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg.
The agreement was possible because Iran will be exempt from capping production, a major concession by Saudi Arabia, the group’s dominant producer. Still, many of the details remain to be worked out and the group won’t decide on targets for each country until its next meeting at the end of November.
A source also said that once production targets were achieved, OPEC would reach out to non-OPEC producers for cooperation.
Egypt Oil&Gas has been reporting on speculations that OPEC would reach a production freeze agreement since June. As of Late September, Saudi Arabia hinted that it would concede to capping its production if Iran joined the agreement.
