OPEC oil producers have agreed to endorse tighter oil supply curbs, ignoring consumer country concerns about crude prices near 13-year highs.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to implement a deal cutting one million barrels a day from April 1st, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. The pact, was first arranged in Algiers in February.
Benchmark US crude traded up 25 cents at $36.50 a barrel with the New York Mercantile Exchange's petrol contract setting an all-time record of $1.177 a gallon.
The Bush administration, in a US election year, had called on OPEC to lift output restrictions to help control US prices at the pump and prevent energy inflation slowing economic growth.
Gulf OPEC members Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates argued the cartel should consider deferring the April curbs to allow prices to cool.
OPEC blames speculative investors who hold record positions on futures exchanges in London and New York for driving up oil prices this year.