OPEC, Russia close to slashing oil output despite U.S. pressure

By Rania El Gamal, Olesya Astakhova and Shadia Nasralla

VIENNA (Reuters) - OPEC and its Russia-led allies moved closer on Friday to clinching a deal that would cut oil production by more than the market had expected despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce the price of crude.

The producer club will curb output by 0.8 million barrels per day from January while non-OPEC allies contribute an additional 0.4 million bpd of cuts, Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban said after OPEC concluded two days of talks in Vienna.

The OPEC deal has yet to be approved at a meeting with the non-OPEC allies later on Friday, but most ministers indicated those talks would be smooth.

Oil prices jumped about 5 percent towards $63 a barrel by 1400 GMT as the combined cut of 1.2 million bpd would be larger than the minimum of 1 million bpd that the market had expected.

Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has faced demands from Trump to help the global economy by refraining from cutting supplies.

An output reduction also would provide support to Iran by increasing the price of oil amid attempts by Washington to squeeze the economy of OPEC's third-largest producer.

"We will never address geopolitical issues at OPEC," United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui told a news conference.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak praised the ability of his Saudi counterpart Khalid al-Falih "to find a solution in the most difficult situation", indicating Russia was on board.

The OPEC deal had hung in the balance for two days - first on fears that Russia would cut too little, and later on concerns that Iran would receive no exemption and block the agreement.

But after hours of talks, Iran gave OPEC the green light and Russia indicated it was ready to cut more.

U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook met Falih in Vienna this week, in an unprecedented development ahead of an OPEC meeting. Saudi Arabia first denied the Hook-Falih discussion took place but later confirmed it.

"U.S. political pressure is clearly a dominant factor at this OPEC meeting, limiting the scope of Saudi actions to rebalance the market," said Gary Ross, chief executive of Black Gold Investors and a veteran OPEC watcher.

The price of crude has fallen almost a third since October as Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates raised output to offset lower exports from Iran, OPEC's third-largest producer. [O/R]

The price decline prompted OPEC and Russia to start discussing an output cut, but Russia long resisted any deep reduction.

Novak met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Thursday and returned to the Austrian capital on Friday.

A Russian Energy Ministry source said Moscow was ready to contribute a cut of around 200,000 bpd - more than the initially suggested figure of 150,000 bpd.

Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States have been vying for the position of top crude producer in recent years. The United States is not part of any output-limiting initiative due to its anti-trust legislation and fragmented oil industry.

On Thursday, U.S. government figures showed the country had become a net exporter of crude oil and refined products for the first time on record, underscoring how the surge in production has altered the supply equation in world markets.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson; Graphics by Amanda Cooper)