Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji says the country is expected to produce as much as 3.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2024).
The growth in Iran’s oil production is taking place despite tough US sanctions on the Iranian economy which aim to choke off oil industry as a major source of the country’s revenues.
The minister made the remarks speaking during a visit to the Oil Ministry by President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday.
He said that the country’s current oil output stands at 3.4 million bpd which has increased from 2.1 million bpd in August 2021 when President Raisi took office.
The minister also noted that Iran is now producing as much as 116 million liters a day of gasoline.
He put the country’s current gasoline production at 122 million liters a day which he said is expected to further grow.
The minister elaborated on the reasons of increasing gasoline consumption in Iran, saying that some 1.5 million vehicles are added to the country’s transportation system annually while no old vehicles go out of the cycle.
Owji also said that road travels have increased with the lift of COVID restrictions, referring to fuel smuggling as another reason for high gasoline consumption.