Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), stated that Iran has already reached the desirable level of oil output and likely to consider the oil freeze plan.
Qamsari said Iran’s current production of oil, based on OPEC calculations, stands at around 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by considering the daily production of 500,000 bpd of condensate.“Accordingly, the desirable figure for Oil Minister(Bijan Zangeneh) has been reached.” He said.
Regarding the oil freeze plan, the official emphasized, the decision to join the plan should be taken by the oil minister, himself.
The oil freeze plan that has been raised by key OPEC and non-OPEC producers requires the global production of oil to remain at January levels. The plan is meant to boost the prices that have fallen 65 percent since peaking in June 2014 due to oversupply.
Iran had so far rejected the call to freeze its output as unfair and emphasized that it will go ahead with its plans to increase its oil production.Shortly after the removal of the sanctions, Iran increased its oil production by several hundred thousand barrels per day.
NIOC’s Qamsari told reporters on Friday that Iran’s oil exports already stand at 2.2 million bpd of which at least 0.5 million bpd is exported to Europe.
He also emphasized that any fresh rise in the country’s oil production will depend on market conditions and its domestic capabilities.
