Iran set to produce 1 million barrels of oil a day 'within months'

Published on 19/01/2016 - 15:06

Iran’s oil sector will be the first to benefit from the lifting of sanctions against Tehran. As it re-enters the market, it eventually wants to

Iran’s oil sector will be the first to benefit from the lifting of sanctions against Tehran.

As it re-enters the market, it eventually wants to produce the same volume of oil as it did about six years ago: 3.5 million barrels a day.

Analysts question how quickly Tehran can bring that volume to the market. The government says production will be raised in two phases.

Iran’s deputy oil minister Amir-Hossein Zamani-Nia explained that, “the Iranian national oil company has the capacity to add 500,000 barrels per day to its oil exports, and bring this amount up to the figure 1 million in the next few months.”

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Iran gives order for 500,000 bpd rise in oil production
Read: https://t.co/pVVarevsA9 pic.twitter.com/4nHRnWSaTx
— Press TV (@PressTV) January 18, 2016

Iran ‘unconcerned’ by plunging oil prices

Oil prices have fallen by 70 percent over the last 15 months, slumping below 28 dollars a barrel yesterday (January 18), yet Iran says it is unconcerned.

“Iran’s full return to the market will happen in the next few months and this has already left its effect on the present prices. We should not be worried about the price,” said oil minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh. “Those [countries] who have produced too much oil and have taken too much advantage of Iran’s absence, should be worried.”

Oil reserves

As Iran steps up production, it will export the oil it already has in storage, as economic journalist Ali Pakzad explains.

“Now what we have to offer in order to increase the production and get back to the market is possible through using our reserves. Priorities for Iran are to increase production and to invest [in the oil industry] in order to make up for the damage that our reserves have sustained in the past years. This can be a good priority for foreign investment which, in itself, is a long term issue.”

Euronews Tehran correspondent Javad Montazeri reported: “The Iranian market has turned into an attractive place for foreign investment. Now that sanctions are not an issue, Iran’s domestic economic problems will be the main obstacle to constructive cooperation with international companies, which can help the Iranian economy prosper.”

Oil slides to lowest since 2003 as Iran sanctions lifted https://t.co/QBoGpQKZ3X pic.twitter.com/qKLGSKYUCb
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 18, 2016