| Cue the American frackers! |
A cut to 32.5 million barrels would represent a cut of nearly 1 million barrels a day. OPEC production in August was 33.24 million barrels a day, it said in its monthly oil market report.
The producing group will agree to concrete levels of production by each country at its next formal meeting in November, the sources said. One source also said that once production targets were reached, OPEC would reach out to non-OPEC producers for cooperation.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday Iran, Nigeria and Libya would be allowed to produce "at maximum levels that make sense" as part of any output limits which could be set as early as the next OPEC meeting in November.
The Saudi and Iranian economies depend heavily on oil but in a post-sanctions environment, Iran is suffering less pressure from the halving in crude prices since 2014 and its economy could expand by almost 4 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The Saudi economy has been suffering from record budget deficits after a record gap of $98 billion last year. |