Russia, Saudi Arabia prefer continuing oil output cut

Moscow, Oct 7 : Russia and Saudi Arabia back the oil output cut deal, and the agreement's future should be discussed closer to its expiry date, according to a top minister.

"We agreed that in principle we have such an option and there are such opportunities regarding the extension," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday.

He also said that the agreement would be extended unless the market became well balanced, reports Xinhua news agency.

In November, the 14-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce oil production collectively by 1.2 million barrels per day.

A month later, 11 non-OPEC countries, including Russia, also agreed to cut their production by a total of 558,000 barrels per day.

Initially, the agreement was for the first half of 2017.

In May, it was extended by another nine months and will now end in March 2018.