The National Iranian Oil Company produced more crude oil in February than in the previous month, the latest monthly report by the International Energy Agency announced.
The report shows Iran’s oil production reached 2.65 million barrels per day in February, which was 20,000 bpd more than its January output of 2.63 mbpd.
Oil Minister Javad Owji said the rise in crude production and export has happened while Iran is still under US sanctions, the Oil Ministry’s news service reported.
“Oil exports in the last Iranian year [ended March 21, 2022] were 83 million barrels higher than in the preceding year,” he added.
According to the minister, Iran has increased the export of crude oil, gas condensate and petrochemicals, and even found new customers despite the intensification of sanctions in the past few years.
Iran has signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian companies, which have agreed to invest some $40 billion in the country’s oil and gas industries and develop seven fields.
The two countries hold over 30% of the world’s gas reserves, amounting to about 70 trillion cubic meters.
Mohsen Khojastehmehr, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, said Iran is seeking to increase its oil and gas output, for which it needs an investment of $160 billion over eight years to raise its oil production to 5.7 million barrels per day and daily gas output to 1.5 billion cubic meters from the current 1 bcm.
The investment should be mainly made by foreign contractors, and the MoU with Russia can help pave the way for attracting more foreign investments, he added.
The official said NIOC has given top priority to the completion of semi-finished projects and second priority to the development of joint oil and gas fields.
Regarding the development of oilfields, he said top priority has been given to Azadegan Oilfield, one of the 10 largest fields of the world shared with Iraq, as an MoU worth $7 billion has been signed with six domestic banks and six exploration and production companies to expedite the integrated development of South and North Azadegan oilfields.
Khojastehmehr noted that the projects will help increase the Azadegan field’s daily production to 570,000 barrels from the current 200,000 barrels.
Several projects have been planned to boost gas production in 13 fields, with two gaining momentum, he added.
