TEHRAN – The head of NIOC Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr has said that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will soon restore its crude output capacity back to levels seen before Iran came under U.S. sanctions in 2018, says.
“We are working to bring oil output capacity to pre-sanctions (level) of 4 million barrels (per day) until the end of the year (in late March),” said Khojasteh Mehr, adding that the NIOC had secured the funds needed to meet the target.
The comments come amid reports suggesting Iran has managed to increase both production and exports of crude oil in recent months despite sanctions imposed by the U.S.
Private Chinese buyers have been responsible for more than 0.5 million bpd of oil purchases from Iran in recent months, according to business sources.
Iran had a crude output of over 3.8 million bpd just before the sanctions hit sales in May 2018. Current production is believed to be nearly 3 million bpd.
Speaking to reporters during a press briefing, Khojasteh Mehr said that Iran’s current export volumes of crude oil and condensates are larger than shipments recorded under a former administration that left office in August.
He said that the NIOC plans to invest some $90 billion to increase crude output to 5 million bpd within the next 10 years.
The official said that the company has similar plans to increase Iran’s natural gas output by a half to 1.5 billion cubic meters in the next 10 years, a project he said would need around $70 billion in new investment.