Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will not make any changes in its oil export plans after the removal of international sanctions, the Islamic Republic's OPEC representative Mehdi Asali said.
"Iran didn't withdraw from its plan to increase oil production and export by 500,000 barrels per day as soon as sanctions are lifted," Asali said, the official IRNA news agency reported Jan. 16.
However, the increase will be in a manner to not impact global oil prices more, he said, without unveiling further details.
At the next step Iran will add another 500,000 barrels to its crude export to increase the total crude exports to some two million barrels per day, Asali added.
Iran's current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day (mbpd), of which about one million barrels are exported.
Iran's oil output was about 3.7 mbpd in 2011, but it has decreased due to western sanctions, imposed in mid-2012.
Iran has repeatedly urged other OPEC members, with an output exceeding their quota, to decrease production.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh asked the OPEC to reduce production by at least 1.3 mbpd on Dec. 1.
By holding 157.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil.