OREANDA-NEWS. OPEC + countries agreed to extend the agreement to reduce production of raw materials, said the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, Khalid al-Falih. On the eve of the extension agreed at the ministerial conference of the organization’s member countries. At the end of 2016, OPEC and a number of non-member states (OPEC+) agreed to reduce oil production. The transaction began to operate from 2017 and since then periodically extended.

For the first half of 2019, the reduction was agreed in the amount of 1.2 million barrels per day from the level of October 2018. Of these, Russia accounts for 228,000 barrels. OPEC includes Algeria, Angola, Venezuela, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Congo, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador. Members of the organization control about two-thirds of world oil reserves, they account for up to 45% of all world production and half of exports. Russia is an observer.

Earlier, Russia advocated maintaining agreements on the reduction of production of eft under the OPEC + agreement, as well as extending the agreement for 6–9 months due to the unstable situation on the world market. This proposal was put forward by the Minister of Energy of Russia Alexander Novak, speaking at the monitoring committee of OPEC+, the Russian media reported.

“There is hope for the further development of the world economy. But there are still quite a few uncertainties, and we need to continue to monitor the situation. We believe that it's necessary to preserve our agreements for the next 6–9 months”, he noted. He also stated that the OPEC + countries had previously demonstrated to the market the effectiveness of joint efforts and the ability to react flexibly to changes.