Iran boosts oil production to five-year high

Iranian oil output has increased by nearly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) since August 2021 and has now reached the highest level in almost five years at 3.1 million bpd, the news agency IRNA reported over the weekend.

This represents the highest level since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021. The almost 80% growth in the Islamic Republic’s oil revenues has made up for a major deficit in the fiscal budget, according to Hossein Hosseinzadeh, a member of the Iranian parliament's energy committee. He attributed the surge in oil output and exports to the current administration’s policy of reaching out to regional and Latin American countries.

Data by Argus shows that the last time Tehran produced comparable volumes of oil was in October 2018, the year the US quit an agreement on the country’s nuclear program and reimposed tough sanctions.

The higher production in recent months has been supported by stronger Iranian exports to China, Venezuela, and Syria. Tehran’s crude and condensate exports in the second quarter of this year averaged 1.35 million bpd, an increase of 300,000 bpd from the previous quarter and of 350,000 bpd compared to the 2022 average, according to Vortexa.

Crude exports in the second quarter were the highest quarterly shipments since US sanctions took effect at the end of 2018. Iran reportedly aims to increase its oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day in the years ahead.

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