Russia’s Energy Minister, Alexander Novak has urged Nigeria and Libya to join the deal to cut global oil production as agreed by members of the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Russia, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members agreed last year to reduce their oil production outputs in a bid to prop up the falling oil market and crude prices that have been on the decline.

But the effectiveness of the deal seems to be fading as the impact of the cut has been reducing in recent months due to the dramatic increase in production from Nigeria and Libya who were exempted at the time the deal was made because of supply disruptions.

“I think that these countries should join other responsible oil producers and contribute to the market stabilisation initiative as they reach a level of output,” Novak said.

Novak, who was in St. Petersburg with other OPEC energy ministers ahead of a meeting to discuss the agreement added: “We believe that once oil output in Libya and Nigeria stabilises, there will be less uncertainty on the market as to their future moves”.

He added that all the countries that agreed to take part in the production cut agreement have been assiduously honouring their commitments to the agreement which tends to collectively reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day.

In a swift reaction, the Secretary-General of OPEC, Mohammed Bakindo has said Nigeria has no plans of going beyond the 1.8 million barrels per day benchmark until the end of March 2018.

Bakindo, who made the disclosure at the opening of the meeting of the fourth Joint open non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in Russia, said both Nigeria and Libya who were exempted when the agreement was made remain committed to maintaining the target despite the challenges confronting both nations.