Iran to restore oil output to pre-sanction levels in 3 days: Minister
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has ruled out the idea that US sanctions have badly hurt the country’s production and exports capacity, saying output would be back to normal very quickly once the American bans are removed.
“In case sanctions on Iran’s oil exports are lifted, we would restore oil production to pre-sanction level in three days,” said Zanganeh on Tuesday, according to remarks covered by the official IRNA news agency.
Iran has admitted that sanctions imposed in November and tightened in May have caused a significant decline in oil exports although authorities insist sales through unconventional channels have continued over the past months.
Reports earlier on Tuesday suggested that China, Iran’s main buyer of oil before the sanctions, had imported eight percent more of Iran’s crude in July this year.
Zanganeh’s comments came a day after US President Donald Trump suggested that his administration would be willing to reduce the pressure of sanctions on Iran.
Trump’s statement after a meeting of leading economic powers in France came as Iranian authorities also signaled that there was a chance to hold talks with the US if Washington lifted its sanctions on Iran.
This comes as Iran has sought to reduce its dependence on crude revenues over the past months by investing more in downstream section of the oil industry.
Zanganeh said on Tuesday that output of petrochemical products in Iran had doubled compared to 2013, adding that the country would exceed a target of 100 million tons a year of output of refined products in 2021.
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