OREANDA-NEWS. Opec ministers have reached an agreement to cut their production by 1.2mn b/d to 32.5mn b/d, effective for six months from 1 January, 2017, said current Opec president and Qatari oil minister Mohammed al-Sada.

The freeze would be monitored by a three-country committee.

Saudi Arabia will cut production by 486,000 b/d. A country breakdown of the cuts will be issued.

The deal is contingent on non-Opec producer countries cutting by 600,000 b/d. Al-Sada said that Russia has pledged to reduce its output by 300,000 b/d. If confirmed that would mark a change in Russia's position as Moscow previously said it would only freeze from current record output of around 11mn b/d. The Opec president said he is confident the 600,000 b/d level of pledges will be met.

Al-Sada said the agreement was based on proposals put forward by Algeria. He also said that the "special circumstances" of some countries had been taken into account. These will include Libya and Nigeria but al-Sada did not immediately say whether Iran had agreed to cut or freeze production.

Indonesia, which is a net importer of crude, decided to suspend its membership of Opec rather than participate in the cuts. Indonesia's production of some 720,000 b/d has been redistributed between other members.