Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will increase its output by 250,000 barrels per day by June 21, Bijan Alipour, managing director of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) said.
The NISOC will increase its output to three million barrels per day (mb/d) from the current level of 2.75 mb/d by June 21, Alipour said, Fars news agency reported April 3.
The NISOC, which operates most oil fields in Iran, is a main supplier of crude in Iran.
He further said that the company undertook massive overhaul operation of its equipments in last fiscal year(ended March 21).
The processes are underway to revive the company's pre-sanctions oil output, Alipour added.
Iran exported 2.3 mb/d-2.5 mb/d of oil before the international sanctions targeting its energy sector cut the sales by half in 2012.
Iran has doubled its oil exports since the nuclear deal came into force last January.
Iran's oil and condensate export has recently surpassed two million barrels per day, the country's oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said April 3.
Figures released by Bloomberg show that Iran's overall crude output now stands at 3.2 million bpd which is the highest level since May 2012.
Iran has already rejected calls by other fellow producers to freeze its post-sanctions oil output increase plans to help stabilize the prices.
The Iranian oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said April 2 that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan, however he may participate in the talks with fellow OPEC members and Russia in Qatar April 17 on the issue.
The upcoming meeting of oil producers in Doha follows a gathering in February between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia and Venezuela, during which the countries agreed to freeze their oil production at the January level.
The Iranian minister earlier said Iran is ready to join other oil producers on the output freeze issue after its own production reaches the level of 4 million barrels per day.