OPEC officials meeting in Vienna on Friday to work out the details of their plan to reduce oil production had yet to reach agreement after hours of talks, amid objections by Iran which has been reluctant to even freeze its output, OPEC sources said.
The meeting of the High Level Committee is comprised mainly of OPEC governors and national representatives - officials who report to their respective ministers.
Talks were continuing 11 hours after they started at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) but while there was still no agreement, progress was being made, one source said.
“There is no agreement yet, all agree except Iran,” one OPEC source said, adding Iran was asking for an exemption.
Last month in Algiers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to reduce production of crude oil to a range of 32.50 million to 33 million barrels per day, its first output cut since 2008, to prop up prices.
The proposed plan faces potential setbacks from Iraq’s call for it to be exempt and from countries including Iran, Libya and Nigeria whose output has been hit by sanctions or conflict and want to raise their output.