Updated

A senior energy official says Iran won't consider a production freeze until it reaches its pre-sanctions level of output of 4.2 million barrels a day.

Mehdi Hosseini, who heads the oil contracts revision committee at Iran's Petroleum Ministry, said a freeze at anything less than that would be a continuation of the sanctions imposed on his country as a result of its disputed nuclear program.

The statement is in line with Iran's previous statements on the issue and comes after the country stayed away from a global producers' meeting last weekend on whether to freeze production.

Hosseini said: "Our pre-sanction production was something around 4.2 (million barrels per day) ... therefore any other figure less than that it means another sanction against ourselves. It is something we cannot accept."