Iran and Iraq emerged as major stumbling blocks to an OPEC agreement on reducing crude-oil output, as cartel members gathered ahead of their official meeting to tackle the thorny puzzle of how to share the pain of reducing their production

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were up 85 cents a barrel at $49.75 by 1000 GMT (5:00 a.m. ET), having earlier risen $1 in a push against the $50 mark for the first time since the end of October. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up 68 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $48.92 a barrel.

Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 60 cents a barrel at $47.23 by 1120 GMT (6:20 a.m. ET). U.S. light crude CLc1 was up 50 cents at $46.07.

"We will do everything that our partners from OPEC are expecting. To freeze oil production is not an issue for us," Putin told a news conference in Lima after the APEC summit.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in September to reduce output to help draw down a global supply glut that is weighing on oil prices, but left the details of the plan to be worked out later. The group is holding a so-called “technical meeting” at their Vienna headquarters Monday and Tuesday to discuss the mechanism for implementing the September agreement. The technical meeting will prepare for OPEC’s ministerial meeting Nov. 30 in Vienna.

"I came here to meet with the Iranian petroleum minister just before attending the crucial meeting of OPEC members in Algiers and Minister Zangeneh assured me here that he would do and Iran would do everything possible to reach the consensus and to work for it," the official added.

Russia’s decision earlier this year to engage in talks with OPEC about limiting oil output has added more than 400 billion rubles ($6 billion) to the nation’s budget, according to two officials familiar with government calculations.

Iran overtook political rival Saudi Arabia as India's top oil supplier in October, shipping data showed, just ahead of a producers' meeting this month to hammer out the details on output cuts aimed at reining in a global glut.

The deal between Essar and a consortium led by Kremlin oil giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM) appeared dead in the water two months ago after Saudi state energy firm Aramco weighed in, according to seven Russia, India and Saudi-based industry sources familiar with or involved in the negotiations.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries increased its crude oil output by 240,000 b/d during October to average 33.64 million b/d.