TEHRAN- Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said that the country’s crude oil production has reached the pre-sanction level.

Saying that the current capacity of Iran’s oil production has reached more than 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd), the minister said, “We hope that through the efforts of all those active in this sector, we will reach higher figures in the exports of crude oil, gas condensate, oil products, and petrochemicals in [the current Iranian calendar year] 1400 (started on March 21)”.

“By taking effective measures in onshore and offshore oil fields, drilling new wells, repairing wells, rebuilding and modernizing facilities, and oil collection centers, the current oil production capacity has reached before the sanctions, and we have no problem in performance and this amount of production”, Oji added.

"Iran's oil exports have risen under the toughest sanctions and without waiting for the outcome of the Vienna talks," the minister had said in mid-March.

The increase was thanks to "different methods used to win contracts and finding different buyers," the official added.

“The rise had even increased the bargaining power of our team in Vienna," he said, without elaborating.

Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited the 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions.

Iran views U.S. sanctions as illegal and has said it will make every effort to sidestep them.

The Islamic Republic’s oil exports have risen to more than one million barrels per day for the first time in almost three years, based on estimates from companies that track the flows, reflecting increased shipments to China.

Iran increased exports in 2021 despite the sanctions, according to estimates from oil industry consultants and analysts. But they remained well below the 2.5 million bpd shipped before sanctions were reintroduced.

Back in January, Head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said the country’s oil revenues have increased significantly over the past few months and the country has received the payment for all its crude oil sales since the new government administration.

“In the thirteenth government, part of the country’s lost oil markets has been revived and we have received the payment for all the oil we have sold so far,” Khojasteh-Mehr said.

According to the official, the private sector is also contributing greatly to the country’s current oil sales.

MA/MA