According to NHK, Javad Owji held an interview with NHK in Tokyo on Sunday and before departing for Tokyo to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Negotiations between Iran and the United States for salvaging a 2015 nuclear agreement are going on.

Owji said Iran is working to attract investment from overseas without waiting for the deal to be restored.

He called on Japanese companies to consider expanding into the Iranian market, stressing that his country is 100 percent ready to accept their investment.

Owji revealed that Iran can produce 4 million barrels of crude oil per day. That’s reportedly above levels the country had boasted before the sanctions were imposed.

The minister argued that Iran has been able to increase its crude exports to several countries. They are believed to include China.

Owji added that Iran signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom in July for cooperation in the oil and gas industry.

The 2015 agreement was struck between Iran and world powers, including the US, to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities in return for relief from sanctions.

Owji and the accompanying delegation left Tehran for Tokyo to also attend the Asia Green Growth Partnership Ministerial Meeting (AGGPM) and hold multilateral meetings.

The main approach of AGGPM is financing, promoting innovation and supporting the energy transition process in Asia and international cooperation in this field.

The Iranian minister will give a speech in this meeting and address the oil and energy ministers of Asian countries.

Owji was also to participate in the memorial service of Shinzo Abe, the late Japanese Prime Minister, on behalf of President Ebrahim Raisi. The event will be held in the presence of presidents or prime ministers from all over the world.

Meeting and exchanging opinions about the opportunities and areas of future cooperation with important Japanese companies and the ministers of economy, foreign affairs, finance and industry, economy and trade of Japan are among other plans of Mr. Owji in this country.

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Javad Owji on Thursday evening in a joint meeting with oil industry managers in the Pars Energy Special Economic Zone,  said: “Supply of fuel for the winter is one of the current priorities of the oil industry and it has been predicted that we will face a 10% increase in gas consumption this year.”

He expressed hope that by reviewing and following up on affairs, the country will be able to overcome the winter fuel challenge without any problems.

The oil ministry stated that favorable measures have been taken in the petrochemical industry so far and this industry has met a large part of the country’s hard exchange needs in recent years.

“Vaccination of all oil industry workers has been seriously considered, and I recently told the president that oil industry workers have been greatly overlooked in this regard,” he said.

Owji said the first train of the phase 14 refinery of the South Pars gas field would come on stream in the winter this year.

Meanwhile speaking to reporters during a visit to Assaluyeh on Friday, Mr. Owji said, “I thank God that I succeeded in making my first business trip to Assaluyeh region as the Iranian Minister of Petroleum; over the course of this trip I visited gas refineries, petrochemical complexes and platforms of South Pars.”

He considered the supply of winter fuel as one of the most important concerns of the Oil Ministry at present, and added: “More than 700 million cubic meters or in other words 70% of the country’s gas consumption is supplied from Bushehr Province and the South Pars refineries.”

The Oil Minister noted last night’s meeting with the managers of the oil industry in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone and positively evaluated the meeting, saying the latest state of the refineries and ongoing projects in the region were the focus of the meeting.

Owji expressed hope that with the decisions taken this year, the maximum production and recovery of gas from the South Pars joint field will be achieved.

He underlined the South Pars Refinery Phase 14 as the last refinery to come on stream, and added: “Our comrades have promised that the first gas sweetening train South Pars Refinery Phase 14 will be put into operation this winter and will help the country’s gas network.”

The oil minister arrived in Assaluyeh on Thursday evening on his first business visit in his new post, and after attending the tomb of the anonymous martyrs of Assaluyeh, examined the gas and petrochemical projects based in the area in a meeting with the relevant managers in the Pars Energy Special Economic Zone.

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Addressing the first OPEC Plus meeting in Vienna since being named to the new post, Owji also touched on the US embargo against Venezuela, saying “the imposition of illegal and unilateral U.S .sanctions on the two founding members of OPEC is contrary to the principles and rules of international law”.

The U.S. imposed its most draconian sanctions on Iran three years ago with the express aim of bringing the country’s oil exports down to zero after Washington abandoned an international nuclear deal with Tehran.

No matter how hard it tried, the U.S. did not achieve its goal and Iran continued sending its oil to the market – though in reduced volumes – using innovative ways to bypass the illegal sanctions.

Owji promised that “good things will happen in terms of oil sales in the coming months”.

“After the tyrannical sanctions, oil sales dropped dramatically but this capacity exists in the Ministry of Petroleum and all departments to sell oil,” he added.

One of the ways is to swap oil for goods or investment, Owji said, adding the potential can also be used in other sectors and industries.

Owji said Iran will return to its pre-sanctions crude production level as soon as the US sanctions are removed. “We are against using oil as a political tool that would harm the oil market.”

Oil ministry officials have said a removal of the sanctions could bring back 3.8 million barrels per day of Iranian oil to the market over time. They are confident of the country’s ability to increase production quickly. One senior official said recently that most output could be restored within a month.

On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, decided to stick to a policy from July of phasing out record output cuts by adding 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) a month to the market. Owji said Iran backs the decision.

“We will definitely work with OPEC and support the OPEC+ statement. The head of OPEC also reminded that as soon as the sanctions on Iran are removed – and specifically in the field of Iranian oil – ‘we (OPEC) will not have any restrictions on oil activities and cooperation with Iran’, and as soon as the sanctions are removed, we will return to the same capacity we had before the sanctions,” he said.

Owji also touched on his ministry’s priority to combat corruption, saying efficient and capable forces have already been identified for the purpose.

“The bottlenecks, including with regard to contracts, transfer to contractors and purchase of goods, have been correctly identified,” he said.

Owji also said his ministry will focus its support on domestic manufacturers and knowledge-based companies to move towards reducing costs by strengthening domestic potentials.

“I remember as a CEO in the oil upstream some 20 years ago, about 60 to 70 percent of the goods needed in our projects were imported, but today thanks to the sanctions, we see that 65 percent of the goods are domestically made and only 30 to 35 percent are imported.”

Meanwhile later on Wednesday, speaking in a televised interview, the Iranian Oil Minister said bartering oil with goods and investment were some methods the country could resort to in order to trade its crude oil under the sanctions.

Regarding the 13th administration’s plans to sell crude oil and circumvent the sanctions, he said: “With the capacity that exists in the Ministry of Petroleum and its subsidiaries, capable and specialized forces, as well as the will to sell oil and use the power of all foreign capacities and devices and given the handy permits and authority given to the Minister by the Supreme National Security Council, along with the support of the administration, we undoubtedly promise with good planning and strong will that, God willing, good things will happen in the field of oil sales in the coming months.”

The official added: “Although the sale of our oil has decreased significantly after the oppressive sanctions, there exists this power and capacity in the Ministry of Petroleum and one of the ways is to barter oil with goods and investment not only in the oil sector but also in other sectors and industries.”

The Oil Minister continued: “In order to maintain the current level of production, experts predicted an investment of at least $15 billion, and to increase production and operationalization of new joint fields and their development and completion in four years, about 25 to 20 billion of capital is needed.”

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