TEHRAN- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the OPEC member states’ compliance with the agreement to reduce output has improved in recent months, Shana news agency reported.

The minister made the remarks addressing the reporters before his meeting with Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy Fernando Coelho Filho in Tehran on Monday.

Under the agreement OPEC is curbing its collective oil production by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), while Russia and some other non-OPEC producers are cutting a further 600,000 bpd until March 2018.

"I think the oil market is balanced. OPEC members' compliance with output cuts has not fallen in the last six months; it has increased," Zanganeh noted.

After his meeting with Filho, Zanganeh told the reporters that he has invited Brazilian oil companies to cooperate with Iranian oil sector.

“We invited directors of Petrobras (semi-public Brazilian multinational oil corporation) to Iran to negotiate on cooperation for development of Iran’s South Pars oil layer and also their contribution in extraction of oil from Caspian Sea”, the minister added.

Filho, for his part, referred to the intention of Brazilian oil industry’s representatives for presence in Iran and said: “We will study Iran’s request for receiving Brazilian technology and the ways to broaden the bilateral cooperation.”

The Brazilian minister referred to the experience of Petrobras in extracting oil from seven kilometers depth of waters and highlighted: “We enjoy high experience and technology in this field and hope that we could work here [in Iran] as well.”

MA/MG

PHOTO: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (L) and Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy Fernando Coelho Filho answering the questions of reporters after their meeting in Tehran on Monday