Rohani Pushes For OPEC Action With Russia To Raise Oil Prices

Iranian President Hassan Rohani

Iranian President Hassan Rohani told his Venezuelan counterpart that it is essential for oil-producing countries to take collective action to raise oil prices, Iranian news agencies reported on October 3.

Iran and Venezuela are both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which agreed at an informal meeting in Algeria last week on modest oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008.

Rohani told Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a phone call that OPEC should take further action to raise prices at its next summit in November and the cartel should also negotiate with non-OPEC members like Russia to stabilize the market.

Maduro said the two leaders agreed to "keep consolidating this agreement with OPEC and [form] new alliances with producer countries like Russia."

How much oil each country will produce under the accord is to be decided at the November OPEC meeting, when an invitation to join cuts might also be extended to non-OPEC countries like Russia.

Oil prices jumped more than 5 percent last week amid surprise that OPEC reached a compromise after years of wrangling, especially between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Based on reporting by Reuters, IRNA, and PressTV.ir