Iraq has agreed to extend cuts to its oil output as part of efforts by the world's leading producers to increase global prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet in Vienna on May 25 to consider whether to extend curbs agreed in December last year between OPEC and 11 nonmember countries, including Russia. The existing cuts run until June.
Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi, speaking after talks with his Saudi counterpart in Baghdad on May 22, said the country agreed to extend OPEC cuts for a nine-month period.
OPEC and other producers initially agreed to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017, with a possible six-month extension.
But Riyadh and Moscow have said the supply cuts should be extended for nine months, through March 2018.
The supply-cut deal has increased oil prices, but they remain below the $60 per barrel that Saudi Arabia would like to see.
Inventories remain high and countries not involved in the agreement, such as they United States, have not limited their output.
