Mubasher: Russia and another nine producers agreed with members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to extend the oil supply cuts to nine months, ratifying thereby a move to shore up crude prices, CNBC reported.

This came less than 24 hours after OPEC producers reached an agreement on rolling over their production curbs until March 2020, after managing to bridge differences following five hours of negotiations.

The so-called OPEC+ alliance has been withholding the amount of oil flowing into the global market since 2017.

Such policy aimed to put brakes on a slide in oil prices as production surged from the US, which became the world’s biggest producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the meeting with non-affiliated producers, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih said he was confident that a deal would be reached.

The OPEC+ decision is expected to draw criticism from US President Donald Trump who has repeatedly demanded Riyadh to pump more oil and reduce prices.

By 12:04 pm GMT, US Nymex crude futures declined by 0.25% to $58.94 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures fell by 0.31% to $64.86 pb.