BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 8. Iran did not wait for the restoration of the Comprehensive Joint Action Plan (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program and the return of foreign companies to the country due to development efforts in the oil and gas and related sectors, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji told reporters, Trend reports.
According to him, Iran's Oil Ministry has maximized the potential of domestic producers and contracting companies.
Owji noted that more than 300 unfinished and newly launched projects in oil and gas, petrochemical, and related sectors are currently underway in the country. Estimates place the value of these projects at $120 billion.
The minister stated that economic growth in Iran's oil and gas sector last year (from March 21, 2023, through March 19, 2024) stood at 20 percent. In the coming years, Iran plans to increase crude oil production to 5.5 million barrels per day and gas production to 1.25 bcm.
In January 2016, Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) implemented the Comprehensive Plan of Joint Action on Iran's nuclear program. The US announced in May 2018 that it was withdrawing from the plan and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. Iran has announced that there will be no restrictions on the Iran nuclear deal in 2020.
In late 2020, the Iranian parliament adopted a strategic plan to counter the sanctions, citing the non-fulfillment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries, as well as the imposition of sanctions on Iran.
According to the Iranian parliament's decision, as of February 23, Iran had stopped the implementation of additional measures and an additional protocol included in the nuclear deal. Consequently, the IAEA reduced its monitoring mechanism by 20–30 percent.
Moreover, Iran's total hydrocarbon reserves amount to 1.2 trillion barrels. Iran can produce 340 billion barrels of this gas with existing technological equipment. Iran can use about 30 percent, while 70 percent remains unused underground.
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