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Iran's crude oil output stands at 2.8 mbpd in 2014

Business Materials 11 February 2015 17:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report that Iran's crude oil output (excluding condensates) stood at 2.8 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2014.

The figure indicates an increase by 120,000 bpd compared to 2013, making Iran third crude producer among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) report published Feb. 10.

Saudi Arabia, by producing 9.7 mbpd of oil in 2014, ranked first among OPEC member countries in terms of crude production, followed by Iraq with 3.34 mbpd.

EIA estimates that OPEC crude oil production averaged 29.9 mbpd in 2014, a slight decline from the previous year.

Crude oil production declines in Libya, Angola, Algeria, and Kuwait more than offset production growth in Iraq and Iran.

EIA expects OPEC crude oil production to remain flat in 2015 and fall by 0.3 mbpd in 2016. Iraq is OPEC's largest contributor of growth over the next two years, but its growth is expected to be offset by production declines from other Gulf producers.
EIA estimates that OPEC produced 6.1 mbpd of non-crude oil liquids in 2014, close to production in 2013. OPEC non-crude liquids production is expected to increase by almost 0.1 mbpd in 2015 and 0.3 mbpd in 2016, led by Iran and Qatar.

The report also puts Iran's estimated unplanned crude oil production outages in 2014 at over 500,000 barrels per day.

EIA's reports also show that the amount of estimated unplanned crude oil production outages was 600,000 barrels per day in 2013.

A series of international sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector have led foreign companies to cancel a number of new projects and upgrades of existing projects.

Iran also faces continued depletion of its production capacity, as its fields have relatively high natural decline rates (between 8 percent and 13 percent per year). Additional factors hampering investment include unfavorable foreign investment requirements, underinvestment, and gaps in professional expertise and technology for certain projects.

Iran, with 157 billion barrels, holds the world's fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves and the world's second-largest natural gas reserves (33.78 trillion cubic meters).

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

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