TEHRAN- Iran’s crude oil production increased 48,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April to reach 2.63 million bpd, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report Published on Thursday.

As reported, Iranian heavy crude oil price also increased by $5.78 or 7.3 percent in the mentioned month to stand at $84 per barrel compared to the $78.8 per barrel in March.

According to the report, the country’s average heavy crude price was $81.56 from the beginning of 2023 up to the report’s publishing day, in comparison to $99.66 in the previous year’s same period.

OPEC Basket prices also rose by $5.68 to $84.13 a barrel in April.

Based on OPEC data, the country’s average crude output in the first quarter of 2023 stood at 2.57 million barrels per day indicating a 3,000-bpd rise compared to the figure for the last quarter of the previous year.

Iran’s oil production in 2022 increased by seven percent compared to the previous year, according to OPEC’s first monthly report released in 2023.

Based on the OPEC data, the Islamic Republic produced 2.554 million bpd of crude oil in 2022, 162,000 bpd more than the figure for 2021, when the output stood at 2.392 million bpd.

Citing secondary sources, the report put Iranian crude output for December 2022 at 2.574 million bpd indicating a 9,000-bpd increase compared to the figure for November.

The country’s heavy crude oil price also increased by $30.12 in 2022 to register a 43-percent rise compared to the previous year, according to OPEC.

Iran sold its heavy crude oil at $99.92 per barrel on average in the mentioned year, compared to 2021 when the average price was $69.8 per barrel.

In the last month of 2022, the average price of Iranian heavy oil was reported to be $79.11, which has decreased by $9.62 compared to the previous month.

EF/MA