Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 22/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran plans to boost oil and gas outputs
Iran plans to increase natural gas and crude oil production by 5 percent and 20 percent in the next calendar year, which starts on March 20, the National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) managing director Ahmad Qalebani said.
He added that the NIOC has concluded $25 billion in contracts in the current year and that the global sanctions have not slowed down the speed of implementing development projects.
Previously, he said the country's daily oil and gas outputs should amount to 5 million barrels and 1.47 billion cubic meters by 2015.
He said if Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, Italy and Portugal continue their bellicose attitudes toward the Islamic Republic, Iran will also cut oil exports to them.
Qalebani also said the NIOC had already informed European buyers that in the future they will need to ink 3-5 year contracts with Iran.
Meanwhile, the NIOC predicts that international spot prices for oil will jump to $150 per barrel due to Iran's plan to suspend exports to some European states.
Iranian Oil Ministry spokesperson Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar announced on Sunday that crude exports to British and French companies have been halted.
The Iranian parliament has prepared a plan calling for a halt to Iran's oil exports to EU states that voted for sanctions on the country's oil industry.
Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and is trying to grow its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
South Pars is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.