Mubasher: Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Friday announced that they agreed on ramping up their oil production, easing their supply constraints in place for the last 18 months.

The deal came after a week of flurry of intensified negotiations at the group’s headquarters in Vienna, while the organisation’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia was trying to convince a handful of oil exporters, including Iraq, Iran and Venezuela to back a production increase.

OPEC left the market in a disappointment by refusing to announce a specific figure. However, the oil group did say that they would increase supply while avoiding an overshoot of the 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) they had set in November 2016.

“The Conference hereby decided that countries will strive to adhere to the overall conformity level of OPEC-12, down to 100%" as of 1 July, the organisation said in a statement.

Ahead of the official decision, OPEC was reportedly targeting to restore nearly 1 million bpd to the market.

Nevertheless, sources familiar with the group’s deliberations told CNBC that the increase is likely to total around two thirds of Saudi Arabia’s proposed amount, given that some OPEC members, who recently underproduced oil, would struggle to increase output, while other producers may not be able to fill the gap.

Analysts expected the actual increase to range from 600,000 to 800,000 bpd.

OPEC’s agreement with non-OPEC Russia had helped clearing the global supply overhang that weighed on prices for years.

As a result, the cost of crude soared to multi-year highs on the back of strong demand and shortage in Iranian and Venezuelan output, which led the US administration and major consumers like India to press for production increase from OPEC.

By 3:11 pm GMT, US Nymex futures jumped 3.71% to $67.97 per barrel (pb), while global Brent crude futures climbed 2.26% to $74.70 pb.