Bangladesh, Dec. 6 -- producing countries and ally Russia said Friday they have agreed to cut their crude production by an extra 500,000 barrels a day as they try to support global energy prices.

The decision came after long discussions at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna. The group's goal is to to support the price of energy. But they also do not want to lose global market share to the United States, which keeps pumping more oil.

"We have decided to reduce production by 500,000 barrels a day through the first quarter of next year," said Russian energy minister Alexander Novak.

The cuts come on top of a reduction of 1.2 million barrels a day that they have been observing for the past three years.

The sticking point in the talks appears...