"With regard to the cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the dialogue between our two countries is developing in a tangible way, whether in the framework of a multi-party structure or on a bilateral level," Novak was quoted as saying.

Australia’s LNG exports rose by 2% last month following a worldwide rise in demand for the product.

Eni owns the whole of Zohr and has said it is interested in bringing in partners as part of its strategy of selling some of its prize acreage to help meet a target of raising 5 billion euros from asset disposal over the next two years.

U.S. Rig Count is up 17 rigs from last week to 481, with oil rigs up 15 to 396, gas rigs up 2 to 83, and miscellaneous unchanged at 2. Canadian Rig Count is up 4 rigs from last week to 126, with oil rigs up 5 to 65, gas rigs unchanged at 60, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 1.

The group exploited 10.32 million tons of crude oil and 6.56 billion cubic metres of gas in the first seven months.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, told OPEC that it boosted oil output to a record 10.67 million barrels a day in July, two people with knowledge of the data said. Iran’s output is up to 3.85 million barrels a day, Fars news agency reported, citing Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.

The government hopes foreign companies will invest as much as $50 billion a year in Iran’s oil industry. Major European oil companies such as Italy’s Eni SpA and France’s Total SA have expressed an interest in developing Iran’s oil and gas fields.

Saudi Arabia’s increased crude output comes as Russia and Iran are boosting shipments to top demand markets such as India and China. Iran boosted crude output to 3.85 million barrels a day and plans to keep boosting production to 4.6 million barrels in five years, Fars news agency reported Wednesday, citing comments made by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh at parliament.

“We still haven’t reached the moment when OPEC members will agree to a production agreement, as Iran has not yet recovered its pre-sanction production levels,” Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS, said by e-mail. “Nigerian and Libyan oil output are also currently below capacity.”

Libya is seeking to boost crude production after rival leaders agreed last month to unify the state National Oil Corp. under a single management. The bulk of the country’s oil infrastructure is either damaged or straddles disputed territory as armed factions fought for control of producing fields.

The OPEC member pumped 4.632mn barrels of crude oil per day in July compared with 4.559mn bpd in June, state-run Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) said in a recent statement.

"Oil exports has risen to 2,500,000 barrels per day and children of the Iranian nation (officials) have been capable of moving the stopped wheels of oil production and regaining the past markets through increase in the production."

Indonesia is looking to increase imports of LPG, petrochemical products and crude oil from Iran in the near future. Earlier this year, Indonesia inked a deal to buy LPG from Iran.

U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 464, with oil rigs up 7 to 381, gas rigs down 5 to 81, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 2. Canadian Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week to 122, with oil rigs unchanged at 60, gas rigs up 2 to 60, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 2.

During the visit, President Rouhani attended trilateral talks among Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan and conferred with his Russian and Azeri counterparts on expansion of trilateral cooperation in commerce, energy, telecommunications, environment, fight against terrorism, transportation and transit of goods.