TEHRAN- Iran plans to boost its crude oil production by 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) through putting the first phases of North Azadegan and Yadavaran oilfields into operation, according to an Iranian oil official.

The target is to be achieved by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2016), the IRNA news agency quoted Soltan Kamali, the managing director of Arvandan Oil and Gas Company, as saying.

North Azadegan and Yadavaran are two of the five oilfields Iran shares with Iraq, dubbed the West Karoun. The oilfields are located at the western part of Iran’s southwestern region of Karoun.

Earlier this month, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s Managing Director Roknoddin Javadi said Iran plans to raise its oil production capacity to 3.96 million barrels per day in the current Iranian calendar year, from 3.8 mbpd last year. 

Iran also plans to make $20 billion investment to boost its oil production by over 700,000 bpd by the end of Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018), the official added. 

“We also hope to raise oil production from West Karoun (the five oilfields Iran shares with Iraq) to 250,000 barrels per day by the end of this Iranian year, from the currently 100,000 barrels per day”, Javadi mentioned. 

Development of joint oil and gas fields is a priority of the Iranian government. 

In April, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said it will take just a few months for the country to increase its oil production to pre-sanction levels.  

Zanganeh has set an output target of 5.7 million bpd of crude oil by 2018.     

Also, on May 9, Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said that Iran is able to raise its crude oil exports by 500,000 bpd immediately after the sanctions against the country are lifted. 

Western sanctions have cut Iran's oil exports by more than half to about 1.1 million bpd from a pre-2012 level of 2.5 million bpd. 

With holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest crude oil reserves.

MA/