Technical experts meeting scheduled for late October between OPEC and non-cartel members

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in efforts to finalize an output-cut deal, decided on Wednesday to host a high-level technical experts meeting in Vienna on Oct. 28-29 with Russia and other non-cartel members.

"We agreed to have a high-level technical experts meeting in Vienna this month to have a better understanding and set the best way to re-balance the market," Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, the OPEC president and Qatar's minister of energy and industry, told a press conference in Istanbul.

A planned meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers on the sidelines of the ongoing 23rd World Energy Congress did not materialize on Wednesday, instead ministers from seven countries gathered together, namely Venezuela, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Gabon -- all from the cartel -- and Russia and Mexico, two outsiders.

"In today's meeting we haven't discussed any specific figures," Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the press conference.

"But we focused on the interaction mechanism and ways to be able to interact more practically in the future," the minister said, speaking of more specific talks in Vienna about the future action.

As the oil cartel is "actively" encouraging non-OPEC nations to join the process, Novak said he was expecting invitation to be extended to major actors including the United States, the third largest oil producer.

The small-scale meeting in Istanbul "was dominated by positive positions and understanding of the situation and about what could be the role of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in stabilizing the market," said Al-Sada.

"We have intention that non-OPEC countries are to be represented as much as possible at a widest spectrum," the president said.

Describing the Istanbul meeting as "excellent" and "very positive," Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouterfa told reporters that "I hope next Vienna summit will be even more positive."

At a meeting late last month in Algiers, the Algerian capital, OPEC announced its intention to reduce its oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day in 2017 from the current level of some 33.24 million barrels per day, abandoning its previous policy of pumping oil without constrains.

Details are to be worked out when members meet again in Vienna in November.

The oil cartel has got support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told the Istanbul energy congress on Monday that freezing or cutting oil production is the cleverest way to deal with the crisis at hand. Endit