Major Russian oil producers agree to cut output

Twelve major Russian oil companies accounting for 90 percent of the country's crude production have agreed to a pro rata output cut, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday.

"The companies once again confirmed their commitment to the agreements reached in Vienna," the minister was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency after a meeting with top Russian oil producers.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed on Nov. 30 to cut its oil output by 1.2 million to 32.5 million barrels per day from January 2017 in a bid to stabilize world crude prices.

On Saturday, non-OPEC countries agreed in Vienna to cut their output by 558,000 barrels per day. Based on the agreements, Russia would cut its oil output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in early 2017, and gradually to 10.947 million barrels a day.

The total volume of production by the end of the first quarter of 2017 will decrease by 200,000 barrels per day, and in the first half of the year the cut will reach 300,000 barrels per day, the minister added.

Russia is estimated to produce 11.04 million barrels per day of oil in 2016, up 1.74 percent year-on-year, according to an OPEC report released in November. Endi