TEHRAN - Iran plans to raise its oil production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) within the next seven days, the Mehr News Agency reported on Tuesday.

In this regard, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has ordered oil production companies, the international affairs department of the Oil Ministry, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company to take steps for 500,000-bpd rise in the country’s oil production and exports.

The U.S. administration is taking steps to ensure that Tehran's oil customers can continue to purchase Iranian crude during an interim period before a nuclear agreement can be fully implemented and sanctions lifted.

The U.S. Treasury and State departments has issued guidance for how they will handle Iranian oil and petrochemical exports in the wake of a 14 July agreement the US and its P5 + 1 negotiating partners reached with Tehran.

During the nuclear negotiations, Iran’s oil exports have been limited to 1-1.1 million bpd, down from 2.5 million bpd before the sanctions were imposed in 2012. Six countries — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey — buy oil from Iran.

The U.S. also will allow 14 companies to export petrochemicals from Iran. 

Iran produced 2.88 million bpd in July, up from 2.85 million bpd in June, making it OPEC’s third largest oil producer. Iranian officials have said repeatedly their oil sector needs $150 billion-$200 billion in new investment. U.S. officials estimate that sanctions have cost Iran more than $160 billion in oil revenue since 2012.

Iran, once OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, is seeking to clear space for its gradual return to the market after lifting of sanctions. The country’s current oil production is estimated to be around 2.7 million bpd.  

In the sixth international seminar of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was held in Vienna on June 3 and 4, Zanganeh said Iran’s oil production could be lifted by one million bpd within half a year of Western sanctions being lifted.  

With holding 157.5 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest crude oil reserves. 
  
MA