TEHRAN – According to a new survey by Reuters published on Tuesday, Iran has increased its oil output by 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January after the country was exempted from the OPEC cuts.

A deal reached on December 10 between the members of OPEC and non-OPEC producers marked the first such pact since 2001.

Under it, producers agreed to lower output by nearly 1.2 million bpd starting from January 2017, to ease a global glut that has weighed on oil prices for more than two years.

Iran was exempted from the OPEC deal, a boon for Tehran which had argued it needs to regain the market share it lost under Western sanctions targeting its nuclear program. 

In a report last week Shana quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying that Iran's crude oil output was 3.9 million bpd in January.

Speaking on the sidelines of a government cabinet meeting on January 25, the official denied Iran having stored crude oil in floating tankers, saying only gas condensate has been stored on water which will be sold by the calendar yearend (March 20, 2017).

EF/MA/MG