It is too soon for the world's top oil exporters to discuss extending a historic deal to curb output beyond June, oil ministers from Iraq and Russia said on March 6 at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

Members of OPEC including Iraq and non-OPEC countries such as Russia last year agreed to cut oil production by some 1.8 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d) in a bid to buoy global oil prices.

"It's very premature to talk about any changes or to predict anything," Iraqi oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said on the sidelines of the industry gathering in the U.S. energy capital of Houston.

Iraq would participate in cuts if OPEC extended the agreement beyond June, he added. Iraq agreed to cut production by 210,000 bbl/d as its part of the bargain in November.

Russia led the non-OPEC producers that joined the deal, which has lifted global oil prices more than 10% since November. Moscow, too, thinks it is too soon to discuss prolonging the cuts into the second half of the year.

"It's premature to talk about extending the agreement," Russian oil minister Alexander Novak told reporters.

Russia agreed to cut output by 300,000 bbl/d under the deal, and would reach that target by the end of April, Novak said in remarks translated from Russian. So far, Russia has cut about half of that, he said.

Russia expects oil prices to stay at around $55/bbl to $60/bbl in 2017, he said. Benchmark Brent crude settled at $56.01/bbl on March 6.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said last week it would like to see oil prices rise to $60/bbl in 2017.

Russia has been the subject of economic sanctions for its annexation of Crimea and conflict in Ukraine. In December, former President Barack Obama authorized new sanctions against Russia for intervening in the U.S. election.

It is unclear if those sanctions will remain in place under President Donald Trump, an advocate for more cooperation between the U.S. and Russia.

Novak said there was lots of "untapped potential" for Russia and the U.S. to cooperate on energy matters.