TEHRAN- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said extending the deal between OPEC and the group of non-OPEC oil producing countries on output cut is not a difficult task, Shana reported.

Making the remarks in Moscow on Monday after his meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Zanganeh said that it should be straight-forward to extend the global oil output deal between OPEС and non-OPEC countries and that the deal was going well.

“As I understand, there is no difficulty to extend this cooperation,” the minister noted.

Zanganeh added that he and Novak had agreed at the meeting to strengthen ties between the two oil exporters.

The Iranian minister also said that the balance between supply and demand in the oil market is fragile and called on crude producers to be wary of troubles caused by U.S. sanctions.

“Oil market is in a fragile situation considering the supply and demand balance, so the oil producers should be wary of any trouble in the oil market, especially due to U.S. measures against big oil producers,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by IRNA upon his arrival in Moscow.

The official was traveling to Moscow to discuss the oil market with his Russian counterpart Novak.

“Russia is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, and we are in a situation that we thought it is necessary to discuss the oil market with our Russian friends,” Zanganeh said.

The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Tehran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers.

The United States is likely to renew waivers to sanctions for most countries buying Iranian crude, including the biggest buyers China and India, in exchange for pledges to cut combined imports to below 1 million barrels per day.

MA/MA