Investing.com - OPEC surprised markets Wednesday and agreed to production curbs under a formula to cut output to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels of oil per day from 33.4 million.
Under the terms, Saudi Arabia, the world's top producer, is expected to cut output by 350,000 barrels a day, according to reports.
Details on curbs by other producer were not available, but three countries are exempted from the production cuts: Iran, Nigeria and Libya. Economic sanctions were lifted on Iran earlier this year, and Libya and Nigeria have had some of their oil facilities damaged by terrorist attacks in recent months.
OPEC members at the International Energy Forum in Algeria were not widely expected to reach a deal after an attempt to jointly freeze production levels earlier this year failed over Iran's refusal to take part of the initiative, underscoring the difficulty for political rivals to forge consensus.