TEHRAN- In its latest report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced the increase of 37,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil production in the first quarter of 2023, and announced the average price of Iranian heavy oil in this period at $80.67.

In its latest monthly report, the organization, citing secondary sources, announced that Iran's average oil production in the first quarter of this year reached 2.565 million barrels per day, Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.

Last week, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the oil and gas sector experienced a growth of nine percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20).

The President considered the growth of production in 1401 promising and said: “We will strongly follow the wise slogan of 1402 which is "Inflation Control and Production growth".

Oil Minister Javad Oji has recently said that a new record high will be reached in the country’s oil export in the current Iranian calendar year.

The country’s oil export in 1401 was 83 million barrels more than that of 1400, and 190 million barrels more than the export in 1399, the minister announced.

Underlining that now oil export has reached the highest figure in the last two years, the official said, “Considering that the Oil Ministry is one of the main providers of the country's foreign currency; in the 13th government, despite the tightening of cruel sanctions, fortunately, thanks to the grace of God and the efforts of our colleagues in the country's oil and gas industries, there are good records in the field of exporting crude oil, gas condensate, and petroleum and petrochemical products.”

Despite the negative impacts of the U.S. sanctions, Iran has been ramping up its oil production and exports over the past few months.

In his remarks in November 2022, President Raisi highlighted the failure of the enemy’s policy of maximum pressure, saying the country’s oil export has reached the pre-sanction levels.

Back in January, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a report put Iran’s average oil production in 2022 at 2.54 million bpd, 140,000 bpd more than the previous year.

Iran's oil production in 2021 was about 2.4 million bpd.

MA