TEHRAN- Iranian heavy oil price increased $3.64 in March to register a six-percent rise compared to the previous month, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report published on Tuesday.

Iranian heavy crude oil price followed its upward trend for the fifth consecutive month to reach $64.3 per barrel in the mentioned month, compared to February’s $60.66 per barrel.

According to the report, the country’s average heavy crude price was $60 from the beginning of 2021 up to the report’s publishing day, in comparison to $49.32 in the previous year’s same period.

The report put Iranian crude output for March at 2.304 million barrels per day indicating a 137,000-bpd increase compared to the figure for the previous month.

Based on OPEC data, the country’s average crude output in the first quarter of 2021 stood at 2.190 million barrels per day indicating a near 197,000-bpd rise compared to the figure for the last quarter of 2020.

OPEC Basket prices also rose $8.82 or 17.2 percent to reach $60.22 a barrel in March from the same month in 2020.

In addition to the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the global oil industry which resulted in the drastic fall in oil prices, the Iranian oil industry has also been under pressure from the U.S. efforts to isolate the country by re-imposing sanctions.

The country, however, has been ramping up its oil production over the past few months following the recent developments in the White House and also the recovery of the global markets from the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in February, Fitch Solutions Incorporation, a subsidiary of Fitch Ratings, which is one of the U.S.’s three biggest credit rating agencies, forecasted a 6.8-percent growth for Iranian oil exports in 2021 if the U.S comes back to the 2015 nuclear deal.

In one of its latest reports dubbed “Iran Oil and Gas Report”, Fitch also saw the Islamic Republic’s crude oil exports double in 2022 compared to 2020.

“The prospects for the Iranian oil sector have brightened significantly following Joe Biden's victory in the U.S. presidential election on November 3. President Biden has indicated that he will seek to re-enter the U.S. into the Iranian nuclear deal, paving the way for a roll-back of secondary sanctions and recovery of around 2.0 million barrels per day (bpd) in oil production,” the report said.

EF/MA