Figures by global oil and gas supermajor BP (British Petroleum) show that Iran managed to increase its oil production by a significant amount last year despite US sanctions targeting the country’s crude oil exports.
Excerpts of the report, titled bp Statistical Review of World Energy 2022, was published by Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Sunday. The report showed that Iran’s oil output had risen by 17.4% in 2021 compared with the previous year.
Tables published in the report estimated that Iran’s oil output was at an average of 3.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, up from 3.084 reported in 2020.
The report said that the increase in Iran’s crude oil output was a major driver of a growth in global oil production last year. Iran, with some 540,000 bpd of increased output, had one of the largest shares of the increase in the world’s oil production in 2021 along with Libya and Canada, it said.
The BP data showed, however, that Iran’s domestic consumption of oil had remained almost flat in 2021 at an average of 1.69 million bpd.
The figures confirm statements by Iranian authorities suggesting that Iran has been pumping more oil to the Asian markets since the second half of 2021.
Iranian oil export to China is currently believed to be above 1 million bpd, according to estimates provided by global tanker tracker services.
The BP data also showed that Iran’s production of natural gas liquids rose by 27.1% last year compared with 2020 to reach an average of 450,000 bpd.