Iran's export of crude oil has reached 1.8 million barrels per day, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said on Wednesday.
"Iran should pump 2 billion barrels of oil per year … Exports should continue to rise," Rokneddin Javadi was quoted as saying by Shana.
He added that Iran is planning to reach the 4-million-bpd mark in the next Iranian year (to start March 20), Shana reported.
Javadi did not break down the volume of crude and condensate shipments in what was the third time in weeks a senior Iranian official revised up crude production and export figures.
Last week, NIOC deputy, Seyyed Mohsen Qamsari, said Iran's export of crude oil and gas condensates will reach 2 million barrels a day by the end of March.
He followed in the footsteps of Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh who said earlier that February's oil and gas condensate exports had reached 1.75 million barrels.
Iran, the third-largest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has vowed to ramp up oil production to its pre-sanctions level of 3.6 million bpd.
Sanctions cut Iranian crude exports from around 2.5 million bpd before 2011 to slightly over 1 million bpd in recent years.
The recent bump in exports is largely the result of new oil deals with European buyers. Iran shipped 4 million barrels of oil to Europe in February; France's Total bought 2 million barrels, with Russia's Lukoil and Spanish refiner Cepsa each taking in 1 million barrels.
Bloomberg reported that Cepsa's 1-million-barrel cargo arrived in Spain on Sunday, 17 days after it departed from Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
"Iran has also pumped around 220 billion cubic meters of gas in the past 12 months," Javadi said.
He added that the volume will expected to reach 260 bcm next year before surpassing 400 bcm by the end of the country's sixth five-year development plan in 2021.
