Crude Exports Top 2.4 mbpd

Iran boosted crude oil exports by 240, 000 barrels per day last month to 2.4 million bpd, a new high after the lifting of sanctions in January, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.

“Export of crude oil reached 2.44 million bpd by the end of October,” Zanganeh said, underlining as a milestone the new level of exports, Mehr News Agency reported.

Ali Kardor, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, told IRNA on Sunday that export of crude oil and gas condensates will rise to around 3 million barrels per day in the current Iranian year that ends in March.

The volume includes 500,000 barrels of gas condensates--a type of ultra light crude found in the Persian Gulf’s gas reservoirs.

Zanganeh said prior to the lifting of international sanctions, analysts were skeptical about Iran’s capacity to increase production by more than 1 million barrels per day in a span of nine months.

Stressing that the average daily export of diesel currently stands at 20 million liters, the minister said Iran has become an exporter of diesel without any large refinery going on stream in the past few years.

“Except for gasoline, Iran exports other petroleum products, which has resulted from the rise in gas production,” he said, adding that by March, the number of South Pars phases that have become operational in the past three years will reach 11.