TEHRAN – Iran’s average oil production in the third quarter of 2022 stood at 2.566 million barrels per day (bpd), 11,000 bpd more than the figure for the second quarter of the year, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report published on Wednesday.

Citing secondary sources, the report put the country’s average oil output in the second quarter of the year at 2.555 million bpd.

The report put Iranian crude output for November at 2.559 million bpd indicating a 2,000-bpd fall compared to the figure for October.

The country’s heavy crude oil prices fell $4.48 in November to register a 4.8-percent decline compared to the previous month, according to the OPEC report.

Iran sold its heavy crude oil at $88.73 per barrel in the mentioned month, compared to October’s $93.21 per barrel.

The country’s average heavy crude price was $101.76 from the beginning of 2022 up to the report’s publishing date, in comparison to $70.02 in the previous year’s same period.

Iran has been ramping up its oil production and exports over the past year as the country has been implementing new strategies to overcome U.S. sanctions.

Recent data released by the United States Department of Energy indicates that the Islamic Republic exported 1.5 bpd of crude oil in the first seven months of the current year.

According to Tasnim news agency, Iran’s oil revenues increased by eight times in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22) with respect to the same period of the previous year. The country’s oil revenues also increased by 11 times in the previous year.

In late November, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said the country has reached the highest record of oil, gas condensate, and petrochemical exports since 2017 (when the U.S. started re-imposing sanctions on Iran’s oil industry) in the eighth Iranian calendar month of Aban (October 23-November 21).

“Iran's oil industry is now at the forefront of the economic war and the toughest sanctions have been imposed on this industry,” he said, noting that the industry has thrived despite the mentioned pressures.

EF/MA