TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said his country will return to the oil market in the shortest possible time after the removal of the U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil industry, ISNA reported.
Speaking to the press after attending the 18th OPEC+ ministerial meeting
which was held online on Friday, Zanganeh said: “At this meeting, I announced that if the sanctions are lifted, Iranian oil will return to the market as soon as possible; This is our official decision.”
“I announced Iran’s position in the meeting and emphasized that any decision made in this meeting will not affect our plans. We will return to the market with at least an amount equal to the pre-sanctions level,” he added.
The official noted that some OPEC members are in disagreement regarding their assigned shares for the cuts in the coming months and discussions are ongoing to settle the issue.
The 181st meeting of the OPEC conference was chaired by Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Diamantino Pedro Azevedo.
In the Friday meeting OPEC paid tribute to Zanganeh for his long-lasting contribution to the organization and the oil market.
Iran has repeatedly stated that the country is ready to come back to the oil market with full force after the removal of the U.S. sanctions.
Earlier in June, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Deputy Director for Production Affairs Farrokh Alikhani said that the company has taken all the necessary measures and is ready for boosting oil output to the pre-sanctions level within a month.
“Precise weekly, monthly, and quarterly planning has been made to restore oil production to pre-sanctions level, and if sanctions are lifted, most of the country’s oil production will be restored within a month,” Alikhani said.
“The average daily production of Iranian oil before the re-imposition of sanctions was 3.38 million barrels per day, and the National Iranian Oil Company has planned to return to the pre-sanctions production in the first step if the sanctions are lifted, and in the next step to increase production capacity to more than four million barrels per day,” Alikhani explained.
