Iran’s Largest Crude Producer Output Rises to 600,000 bpd
TEHRAN - The National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) CEO Alireza Daneshi has said that his company which is the largest oil and gas company in the country in terms of output, says it has increased its production by nearly 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to figures recorded in August.
Daneshi said on that company’s output is currently near levels seen before the United States imposed its sanctions on Iran in 2018. The official did not elaborate on more details.
The NISOC is a subsidiary of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). It controls many key onshore oilfields in southwest Iran. The company pumped more than 3 million bpd of oil before the US sanctions were imposed.
An Iranian administration that came to office in August has boasted about its ability to increase production and exports of crude despite continued US pressure on traditional customers of Iranian crude.
Oil Ministry authorities said recently that crude production capacity had reached the pre-sanctions figure of more than 3.8 million bpd.
That comes as reports suggest that Iran’s crude exports reached a three-year high of 1.5 million bpd late last year and stayed at that level in early 2022.
Experts say Iran could immediately add another 1 million bpd of oil to the global oil supply if U.S. sanctions are removed from the country.
NISOC’s Daneshi said that the company will be able to increase its output to beyond levels seen before the sanctions.
“As soon as the government orders us we will be able to swiftly return to pre-sanctions output figures and even go beyond that,” Daneshi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Iran’s Crude Oil Sale
Exceeds $7bn
The Iranian government gained more than $7 billion worth of crude export revenues during the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2022).
The Iranian oil ministry had met a budget target of 1,990 trillion rials ($7.37 billion) set for crude exports revenues for the last Iranian year.
A recent statement by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji showed that oil export revenues had even exceeded the budget target by 10%.
This comes as the Iranian Parliament’s Research Center had anticipated a budget deficit of 2,270 trillion rials ($8.4 billion) for the year to late March as a result of low crude sales reported in the quarter to late May 2021
Government statements and media reports have suggested that Iran’s oil exports rose to around 1.5 million bpd in late 2021 and stayed at the same levels in early 2022.
That has come despite a campaign of maximum economic pressure imposed by the United States on Iran since 2018 to force the country into a series of political and military concessions.
Construction of Soleimani Petro-Refinery to Begin Soon
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji said construction of a 300,000-barrel/day petro-refining plant will begin during the current calendar year, which began on March 21.
Owji stated the 300,000-barrel Shahid Soleimani petro-refinery is the first concentrated petro-refining project in the country, and its construction will begin in April next to the Persian Gulf Star refinery.
The Minister of Petroleum continued: “For refineries such as Bandar Abbas, Tehran and Tabriz, the quality improvement plan and value added of their products have been defined in the form of eight projects.”
Owji underlined the time the projects will be commissioned, saying from the next two to three years, these projects will come online; this both contributes to environmental friendliness and adds refinery value and employment to the society.