SHANA - Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the group reached a consensus to stick to the body�s output reduction agreement it struck back in 2016 to cap production by 1.2 million barrels per day after the 174th OPEC meeting.

The Iranian official, following the 174th ordinary meeting of the Organization Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said: As I said on the minute of my arrival in Vienna, we needed to fully comply with the output reduction agreement of the organization and nothing more.�

�We agreed on this issue and nothing more. I think that the OPEC decision is acceptable and reasonable. It is also legal. Because we have a valid resolution by the end of September,� the official told reporters on Friday.

He refused to give any number for the amount of increased production, because �I think only a few OPEC members are able to enhance their output. Some countries may be unable to fully deliver the agreed levels but we have agreed on full compliance of the pact. As I had predicted, some member countries did not want to say anything against US interests or discuss de-politicization of the market. I already knew this. But told them that this could one day be the case for them. I knew that not all of them would support that but I just wanted this to be registered.�

The decision will come into effect from July, he said.