AKIPRESS.COM - Any decision to extend OPEC production cuts past June would have to include the continued participation by the non-OPEC members of the November accord, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said.

The group held talks in recent days with shale oil producers and hedge fund executives, he said during a media conference at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. This is the first time OPEC held bilateral meetings with shale producers and investment funds, Reuters reported Barkindo as saying.

"I think we have broken the ice between ourselves and the industry, particularly the tight oil producers and the hedge funds who have become major players in the oil market," he said in remarks on the sidelines of the energy conference.

OPEC plans to hold an event to consider the impact of oil futures on physical crude markets, he said, without providing details.

The November deal to reduce output, which was joined by non-OPEC countries including Russia and Kazakhstan, is intended to reduce global output by about 1.8 million barrels per day, and help reduce a glut. The six-month agreement took effect on Jan. 1.

Compliance among top global oil producers should improve in February from January, he said. Members of the production accord last month reported 86 percent of the reduction target had been met in the early weeks of the agreement.

The OPEC-led accord has helped increase crude prices LCOc1 CLc1 by more than 10 percent since the agreement was struck in November.

OPEC plans to meet again in May.