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World oil prices

Iraq starts oil output cuts to comply with OPEC deal

The OPEC decided at its summit in Vienna in late November to cut oil output for the first time since 2008 to 32.5 million barrels per day

KUWAIT CITY, January 5. /TASS/. Iraq has started cutting oil output to comply with a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC states to balance supply and demand on the international crude oil market, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said on Thursday.

"Iraq has started procedures to cut crude oil output from the beginning of 2017 in compliance with an agreement with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)," Luaibi said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

"Iraq confirms its commitment to the OPEC decision reached at the latest session in Vienna and to the proposed output reduction plan," the oil minister said.

As the minister said, Iraq ‘is working jointly with other OPEC oil producers and non-OPEC countries to limit supply on the world oil market and restore the required balance between demand and supply and maintain stable oil prices in the future."

The OPEC decided at its summit in Vienna in late November to cut oil output for the first time since 2008 to 32.5 million barrels per day. The decision obliges OPEC member states to reduce their average daily crude output almost by 1.2 million barrels.

Most cuts will be effected by Saudi Arabia, which is required to remove 486,000 barrels per day from the market. Iraq has to cut output by 210,000 barrels per day.

In early December, 11 non-OPEC countries joined the output reduction plan. Considering these countries, oil output will be cut by 1.7-1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017.

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Oil & Gas Oil price OPEC

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