MAHSHAHR – Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that it is projected that the country’s oil output will increase by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2016.

 

Speaking on Monday on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the world’s largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production unit at the Arvand Petrochemical Complex, which is located in Mahshahr in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, Qasemi stated that the daily gas output is projected to rise by 1.47 billion cubic meters, the Mehr News Agency reported.

 

All development plans related to joint oil and gas fields will by finalized by the end of the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (September 21), he added.

 

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Iran’s oil output in April was 3.758 million bpd, 182,000 bpd more than its output in 2011, effectively disproving the claims that output had been impacted by the sanctions imposed on Iran.

 

According to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report, on average, Iran produced 3.576 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2011 and 3.544 million bpd in 2010. 

 

The country’s oil production has steadily increased in 2012, rising to 3.758 million bpd in April, the OPEC report said.

 

Iran’s oil production stood at 3.742 million bpd in the first quarter of 2012, which was an increase of 133,000 bpd in comparison to the output in the fourth quarter of 2011.

 

Iran has attached priority to boosting gas production capacity at its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

 

Qasemi has ordered all contractors of South Pars gas field development projects to work round the clock in three shifts to complete the development of all phases, especially phases 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

 

The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas.

 

Iran ranks fourth worldwide with 155 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

 

With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.