"When these factors are taken together I can only conclude that the supplies coming from marginal barrels including shale production will not be sufficient to meet the future need for incremental capacity the mid-term," Falih said. "The market balance is already pointing in that direction," he added.

Iran has so far signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with four Russian companies for developing its oil and gas fields: Lukoil for Ab Teymour and Mansouri fields, Zarubezhneft for Aban and West Paydar fields, Tatneft for Dehloran and Shadegan fields and Gazprom for Cheshmeh Khosh and Changouleh fields.

OPEC Member Countries and non-OPEC parties, Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan, taking into account the decision reached by OPEC at the 172nd Meeting of the Conference, recognized the need for continuing cooperation among oil exporting countries in order to achieve a lasting stability in the oil market.

Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies meet in Vienna to decide whether to prolong their agreement. Major producers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq favor an extension for nine months and, while other options will be discussed, consensus is building around an agreement that runs through next March.

Russia itself is now slightly overcomplying with its commitment to cut 300,000 b/d of oil production from October levels, having achieved a 310,000 b/d cut since the beginning of the month.

IMF - advancing decisively on the structural reform agenda to improve growth potential and rebalance growth towards non-commodity sectors.

Algerian energy minister Noureddine Boutarfa said Thursday he believes there is a consensus among countries participating in the OPEC/non-OPEC oil production cut deal regarding the necessity to extend the agreement by nine months through March 2018.

OPEC will decide formally whether to extend the cuts when its ministers meet in Vienna on May 25. The producer group and other major suppliers including Russia agreed last year to cut their collective production by about 1.8 million barrels a day for the first half of 2017 in an effort to reduce bloated global stockpiles and re-balance the market.

Construction of the TurkStream gas pipeline was commenced in the Black Sea near the Russian coast.

Russian state oil firm Rosneft is struggling to close its $12.9 billion acquisition of India's Essar Oil Ltd because six of Essar's Indian creditors have yet to approve the deal, sources close to the talks said.