Minister: Iran Increases Oil Output, Production Capacity
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian oil minister announced Saturday that the country’s oil output and production capacity have both risen compared to 9 months ago, when he took the office.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said his organization is sticking to previous plans to expand the country’s oil production capacity, adding that there has been an upturn in the oil output and production capacity over the past months.
The minister, however, noted that the oil production capacity is yet to reach the target of 4 million barrels per day.
Zanganeh also made it clear that there will be a hike in the oil output and production capacity as more investment is funneled into the oil industry and the country’s oil fields, particularly those shared with neighboring countries, are exploited following a series of development plans.
Earlier this month, the minister said Iran plans to start the process of increasing oil production from fields shared with neighboring states by one million barrels per day within the coming months, adding that the process will be completed by 4 years.
Days before he was approved by parliament as minister in August 2013, Zanganeh had underlined that his top priority would be to bring the country’s oil production capacity back to 2005 levels.
With 137.6 billion barrels of proven reserves, Iran has the world's fourth largest crude deposits. In terms of gas reserves, it is second only to Russia, with reserves estimated at 29.61 trillion cubic meters (tcm).
