The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest “Oil Market Report” released last week put Iran’s oil production in December at 2.72 million barrels per day (bpd) indicating that the country has risen to the fourth place among OPEC’s top oil producers.
Based on the report, Iran’s oil output in the last month of 2022 did not change compared to November, however, the figure was 210,000 bpd more than that of October.
OPEC’s total crude production in December stood at 29.19 million bpd, 40,000 bpd less than the previous month.
Saudi Arabia was the top OPEC producer in December 2022 with a daily production of 10.48 million barrels of oil, followed by Iraq with 4.45 million bpd and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 3.23 million bpd of production.
Earlier this month, OPEC in its latest monthly report also said Iran’s oil production in 2022 increased by seven percent compared to the previous year.
According to the OPEC report, the Islamic Republic produced 2.554 million bpd of crude oil in 2022, 162,000 bpd more than the figure for 2021, when the output stood at 2.392 million bpd.
Iran has been ramping up its oil production and exports over the past year as the country has been implementing new strategies to overcome U.S. sanctions.