A senior Iranian oil official here on Monday voiced Tehran readiness to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil freeze plan to help stabilize prices in international markets.

“We should be producing 9 million if it wasn’t for the wars,” said Falah Al Amri, the director general of state oil marketing company SOMO.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 18 cents at $51.60 a barrel by 0725 ET. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down 37 cents at $50.48.

«Сегодня у нас есть общее понимание, что рынок восстанавливается медленно, инвестиции в отрасль находятся на рекордно низком уровне, запасы существенно превышают средние значения за пять лет. Мы видим целесообразность принятия мер для балансировки рынка в ближайшие месяцы с целью возврата инвестиций и снижения волатильности», - отметил Александр Новак, выступая на пресс-конференции по итогам переговоров.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was trading at $50.59 a barrel at 0652 GMT, down 4 cents from its last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 7 cents at $51.45 per barrel.

However, Russian oil and natural gas companies’ capital investment programs have been less affected, if at all.

The economic consequences of cheap oil have been severe for Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is burning through foreign-exchange reserves, government contractors have gone unpaid, and civil servants, who make up two-thirds of the labor force, will get no bonus this year. The country’s fiscal deficit is more than 10 percent of gross domestic product, the highest ratio of any Group of 20 nation. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Saudi economic growth will slow to about 1 percent next year, the worst since 2009. A few banks predict a recession.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $50.81 per barrel at 0011 GMT, up 52 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at $52.14 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent.

We expect global GDP to more than double over the next 20 years, while energy demand increases by only 30%. The difference between those two things is improving energy efficiency or declining energy intensity. That is critical in underpinning the shift we expect to see in the rate of growth of carbon emissions. We think the energy intensity of GDP will decline much more rapidly than we’ve ever seen before.

Many nations are willing to join OPEC in cutting production to secure a continued improvement in oil prices, said Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih.

An oasis of calm in a hot region, the UAE is at once a critical geo-market and the ideal gateway to the most important oil and gas region in the world.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $50.81 per barrel at 0011 GMT, up 52 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at $52.14 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent.

"We can operate in the $50 range, we have to," he said, adding that the business needs to be resilient to price cycles, can adapt and is agile.

"I don't necessarily have the view that we are setting ourselves up for a big crunch within the next 3, 4, 5 years," CEO Rex Tillerson told the Oil & Money conference.

Brent crude LCOc1 was at $51.91 per barrel at 0655 GMT, up 39 cents, or 0.76 percent from the previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 40 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $50.34 a barrel.