Iran hails OPEC deal on limiting output as step in right direction

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran's deputy oil minister says a preliminary agreement by OPEC nations to limit output to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day is a "small step, but in the right direction," the Associated Press reports.

Amir Hossein Zamaninia spoke Monday, October 17 in Tehran, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reached the deal in late September. The limit is meant to reduce a global glut that has depressed oil prices for over two years.

Iran had resisted cutting production. It's trying to restore its oil industry since emerging from international sanctions over its nuclear program earlier this year.

Zamaninia says Iran's oil output is 3.85 million barrels per day. Iran has said previously it would only consider a possible ceiling on output after it reaches 4 million barrels per day, its pre-sanctions level.