(Photo: AFP)

RIYADH, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry directed on Monday the national oil company Aramco to further reduce crude oil production for June by an additional one million barrels per day.

An official from the ministry said in a statement on the Saudi Press Agency that the reduction will be a voluntary amount of one million barrels per day, in addition to the reduction committed by the kingdom in the latest OPEC+ agreement reached on April 12.

The official said that this brings the total production cut to around 4.8 million barrels per day from the April production level.

"Therefore, the kingdom's production for June, after both its targeted and voluntary cuts, will be 7.492 million barrels per day," he said.

The official also revealed that Aramco has also been directed to reduce production in May, from the target level of 8.492 million barrels per day, after customers' consent.

He justified the reason of the additional cut is to encourage OPEC+ members and other oil producers to comply with their production cuts commitment and to provide additional voluntary cuts, in order to stabilize global oil markets.

The announcement was made after the Finance Ministry's decisions to reduce the economic implications of the coronavirus outbreak by adopting certain measures, including increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5 to 15 percent.