ALGIERS — OPEC nations reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday to curb oil production for the first time since the global financial crisis eight years ago, pushing up prices that had sunk over the past two years and weakened the economies of oil-producing nations.
The deal was reached after several hours of talks in the Algerian capital, though output levels must still be finalized at an OPEC meeting in Vienna in November.
The preliminary deal will limit output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day, said Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, Qatar’s energy minister and current president of OPEC. Current output is estimated at 33.2 million barrels per day.
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Benchmark US crude jumped $2.38, or 5.3 percent, to $47.05 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, was up $2.72, or 5.9 percent, to $48.69 a barrel in London.
Long-running disagreements between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran had dimmed hopes for a deal at Wednesday’s talks.
Iran had been resistant to cutting production, as it’s trying to restore its oil industry since emerging from international sanctions over its nuclear program earlier this year. Iran exceptionally will be allowed to increase production to 3.7 million barrels a day, according to Algerian participants at the meeting. It is currently estimated to be pumping around 3.6 million but had been aiming for 4 million per day.
The deal was a victory for Algerian officials who shuttled overnight Tuesday and all day Wednesday among participants to try to reach common ground on how to support oil markets. The OPEC officials met informally on the sidelines of an energy conference in Algiers.
‘‘Our optimism was vindicated,’’ Energy Minister Noureddine Bouarfaa said. ‘‘The decision was unanimous, and without reservations.’’
Those lower prices have hurt many oil-producing nations, particularly OPEC members Venezuela and Nigeria but also Russia and Brazil.
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‘‘We reached a very positive deal,’’ Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu of Nigeria said. He said all countries will reduce output but the specific quotas will be set in Vienna in November.
Earlier, Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh of Iran had played down the OPEC gathering, calling it ‘‘just a consultation meeting.’’
The price of crude oil has fallen sharply since mid-2014, when it was above $100 a barrel, dropping below $30 at the start of this year.
A number of factors have weighed on prices including worries over the scale of the economic slowdown in China.
High supply levels from OPEC countries, notably Saudi Arabia, as they seemingly strove to drive US shale gas producers out of business, were also central to the descent.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer and Iran’s rival for power in the Middle East, appeared to be more amenable to some sort of production limit, certainly more so than in April when OPEC failed to agree on measures to curb supplies.
Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih of Saudi Arabia this week promised to ‘‘support any decision aimed at stabilizing the market.’’
Over the past couple of years, OPEC countries, led by Saudi Arabia, had been willing to let the oil price drop as a means of driving some US shale oil and gas producers out of business. Shale oil and gas requires a higher price to break even.
Venezuela’s Petroleum Minister Eulogio Del Pino said a special meeting would be held ahead of the November OPEC meeting with non-OPEC members to work out quotas.
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‘‘We reached consensus to regulate the oil market through reductions in production,’’ he said. ‘‘We hope this decision will stabilize prices.’’
Russia, the world’s number two producer, is not an OPEC member, but the country’s energy minister, Alexander Novak, took part in meetings in Algiers.