Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.2/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has criticized Iraq for increasing it crude oil exports, which has compensated for the shortage of Iranian oil in the world market, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Iraq replaced the Iranian oil with its own oil while Iran is under international sanctions, Zanganeh said, adding that such measures are not welcoming.
Iraq, OPEC's second biggest oil producer, expects a robust return to growth next year as foreign companies at work in its southern oilfields push output towards the highest level ever, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Wednesday.
Thamir Ghadhban, chairman of the advisory commission to Iraq's Council of Ministers, said flows are set to rise by at least 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to an average of 3.5 million bpd - as Majnoon - run by Royal Dutch Shell, Garraf - led by Malaysia's Petronas - and Halfaya, operated by PetroChina , ramp up.
Farther north, the Badra oilfield, run by Russia's Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, is also set to come on line.
Production of nearly 3 million bpd earned Baghdad $94 billion in 2012 and netted $61 billion in the first eight months of this year.
Iran's crude oil exports have decreased from 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2011 to less than 1 mbpd currently. According to the statistics of the Iran's Customs Administration, the country's condensates exports have plunged significantly as well.
Zanganeh said on October 27 that the country's crude oil incomes would reach $54.5 billion annually if the US-led sanctions over Iran's oil export are eliminated. While the oil price stands at about $107 per barrel, the targeted oil export income figure equals to the value of selling 1.4 mbpd.
Later in September, member of Iranian Parliament Planning and Budget Commission Hossein Ali Haji Deligani said that Iran's oil and condensate revenues were around $23 billions during the first six months of the current solar year (started on March 21). He went on to note that, the country's crude oil and condensates exports currently stand at 1.209 mbpd, citing a report submitted by Zanganeh to the Commission.