ENERGY

Saudis Agree to Cut Oil Production: OPEC superpowers Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to reduce oil production if necessary to lift sagging prices, OPEC’s president said. Alirio Parra, who is also Venezuela’s energy and mines minister, was in Kuwait for a Mideast tour aimed at persuading Gulf oil producing countries to cut production to bolster the depressed oil market. Kuwait’s oil minister, Ali al-Baghli, said that if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on a production cut, his country would abide by it. In Tehran, Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani stressed that oil-producing countries must reduce output to drive up prices. Rafsanjani told Parra that “a 10% decrease in production will raise prices by 20%.” This, he said, was possible only if OPEC members enforced quotas set by the cartel.