Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 22 / Trend D.Khatinoglu/
Iran restored its position as OPEC's second major oil exporter, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Nov.20.
According to the report, Iran, a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), ranks among the world's top four holders of both proven oil and natural gas reserves. Iran is OPEC's second largest producer and exporter after Saudi Arabia and in 2010 was the third largest exporter of crude oil globally after Saudi Arabia and Russia. However falling production and increases in domestic consumption have been squeezing the volumes of oil available for export in recent years.
However, the OPEC in its Annual Statistical Bulletin published in May put Nigeria ahead of Iran with 2.464 million barrels export per day in 2010. According to OPEC, Iran exported 2.246 million cubic metres of oil per day in 2010.
Iran's OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi announced in October that "OPEC reviewed and changed its data," he said. "It rated Iran as its second exporter with the export capacity of 2.583 million barrels per day."
According to OPEC's another statistics published in October, Nigeria's oil production dropped by 162,000 barrels per day in September to 2.069 million bpd, from 2.231 million bpd in August.
Iran holds the world's fourth largest proven oil reserves and the world's second largest natural gas reserves. International sanctions and unfavourable investment term have however, impeded developments across the energy sector.