Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.4 / Trend F.Milad/
Iran's oil production capacity currently stands at 4.3 million barrels per day, Deputy Economic Minister Berouz Alishiri said on Tuesday.
He also put the country's daily natural gas and gas condensates production capacity at 670 million cubic meters and 400,000 barrels respectively, the Mehr News Agency reported.
It is while the Iranian oil minister put the country's oil production capacity at 4 million barrels per day on December 2, the ISNA News Agency reported.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran's oil production capacity would reach 5.6 million barrels per day, Rostam Qasemi said.
"By the end of the plan, the country will also produce one billion cubic meters of gas," he added.
The International Energy Agency's November report also showed that Iran's crude oil production has increased by 60,000 barrels, reaching 2.7 million barrels per day, in spite of international ?sanctions on the Islamic Republic's energy sector.
The Paris-based agency, charged with regulating energy policy, said in the report that Iran has signed new oil deals with China and South Korea, Reuters reported
This is while OPEC's recent report showed that Iran's oil production decreased again by 48,000 barrels per day in October compared to September and fell to 2.626 million barrels per day.
According to OPEC report, based on secondary sources (OPEC's own resources and credible international organizations' stats), Iran's daily oil output was 3.628 million bpd in 2011.
Iran had refused to prove October oil output figures to OPEC. Meanwhile, statistical data that Iran's Oil Ministry submitted to OPEC (direct communication) shows that Iran produced about 3.739 mbpd in September, which indicates a huge amount difference with OPEC statistics.
In October, Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi dismissed media speculation that the country's oil production and exports have ?fallen to about 2.7 million barrels per day, adding that Iran is still producing 4 million barrels per day.
The IEA agency had also noted in its report that the new round of European Union (EU) sanctions targeting Iran's energy and banking sectors would fail to reduce the country's oil deliveries.
"With the bulk of Iranian crude now heading to Asia, however, the main impact of the new EU measures will likely be on the country's financial sector," the IEA said.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
The sanctions entered into force in early summer 2012.
...