TEHRAN - After experiencing a six-week downward trend, Iran’s light crude oil price increased by $2.11 per barrel in the week ended on August 12, Shana news agency reported on Saturday.

Iran sold light crude oil at $41.52 per barrel in the said week, according to the report.

The country’s light oil price stood at $37.71 on average since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2016).

Also, Iran sold heavy crude oil at $39.92 in the mentioned week, with $1.98 rise from its preceding week.

The country’s heavy oil price stood at $35.45 on average since the start of this calendar year.

Meanwhile, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s basket price was $41.19 per barrel on average in the week ended on August 12, with $2.9 increase from its preceding week. 
 
Iran has regained about 80 percent of the market share it held before the U.S. and European Union tightened sanctions on its oil industry in 2012, Mohsen Qamsari, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s director of international affairs, said on July 11, Bloomberg reported.

The country exports about 2 million barrels of its daily output of 3.8 million, the official added.

Sanctions were eased in January, and Iran plans to double crude exports.

“Our exports peak is above 4 million barrels a day, and we have plans for that and are waiting for the right conditions,” Qamsari said in an interview in Tehran, without elaborating on the timing for such an increase.

The Persian Gulf nation is seeking more than $100 billion in investment from international partners to upgrade its oil industry and reclaim its position as the second-biggest producer in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia. Iran targets 5.8 million barrels a day in combined production of crude and condensates by 2021. It defied skeptics with a 25 percent surge in production so far in 2016 and aims to reach an eight-year high for daily output of 4 million barrels by the end of the year.

HJ/MA