The 14-member OPEC pumped 29.60 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the survey showed, down 170,000 bpd from May’s revised figure and the lowest OPEC total since 2014.

British Royal Marines seized a giant Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar on Thursday for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, a dramatic step that drew Tehran’s fury and could escalate its confrontation with the West.

In view of the current fundamentals and the consensus view on the outlook for the remainder of 2019, the Conference decided to extend the voluntary production adjustments agreed at the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference for an additional period of nine months from 01 July 2019 to 31 March 2020.

Once again, Iran has been exempted from the OPEC output cut deal, Zangeneh told the reporters.

OPEC and its allies led by Russia have been reducing oil output since 2017 to prevent prices from sliding amid soaring production from the United States, which has become the world’s top producer this year ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.

“Today, more than ever, international cooperation is important,” Novak said in a speech at an energy forum in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

OPEC and 10 non-OPEC partners, led by Russia, agreed in December to cut a combined 1.2 million b/d of production in the first half of 2019.

In all, OPEC's 14 members pumped 30.09 million b/d in May, a 170,000 b/d fall from April and the lowest since February 2015, before Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo joined and Qatar was still a member,

Even so, OPEC said it would tread cautiously. The organization forecast that 2019 oil consumption will rise 1.14 million b/d year-on-year, a downward revision of 70,000 b/d from last month's report, as "significant downside risks from escalating trade disputes spilling over to global demand growth remain."

Moscow, 5 June 2019. Today, during the official visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping to the Russian Federation, PAO NOVATEK (“NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”), Sinopec and Gazprombank signed Heads of Agreement (“Agreement”) on establishing a joint venture to market LNG and natural gas to end-customers in the People’s Republic of China.