VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia and Saudi Arabia have put forward a proposal to increase production by OPEC and non-OPEC countries by 1.5 million barrels per day, Ecuador's oil minister said on Monday.
Carlos Perez said on his arrival in Vienna for the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that this was the only proposal he has seen being put forward, and that the proposed increase would be from the quota that the members of the deal had agreed on.
OPEC's second and third largest producers Iraq and Iran have said they would oppose steep output increases as it would breach previous agreements to keep production cuts in place until the end of the year.
Both countries would struggle to increase output significantly, as Iran is facing renewed U.S. sanctions that will impact its oil industry and Iraq still has production constraints.
By contrast Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have capacity to raise output and have said they were keen to meet calls from consumers such as the United States and China to cool down oil prices and help meet global oil demand.
Russia has also said that limiting production for too long could encourage too much production growth from the United States which is not part of the agreement to curb output.
