Report: Iran Has Lost Its Top Position in Oil Production

According to a report, while Iran was the third or fourth largest oil producer in the world after the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia in past years, it is currently ranked lower than Canada, Iraq, China, and the United Arab Emirates, falling to eighth place. The Open Data Iran database, referencing data from British Petroleum from 1965 to 2022, attributes the decline of Iran's position in global oil production to three factors: 'Revolution', 'War', and 'Sanctions'. The Open Data Iran database shows the volume of oil production, including crude oil, shale oil, tar sands, gas condensates, and liquefied gas. Based on a new chart released by Open Data Iran, which compares the 60-year oil production trends of Iran's competitor countries, it indicates that despite some periodic fluctuations, the overall trend of oil production has always been upward, while Iran's trend has progressed differently. The analysis of Open Data Iran regarding the impact of the revolution and war on oil production indicates that following the revolution in 1979, Iran's oil production plummeted from a peak of over 6 million barrels to less than 2 million barrels per day. By the end of the war in 1989, Iran could not reach 3 million barrels per day until the 1990s and 2000s when it experienced stable growth, achieving a record of 4.5 million barrels per day by the end of the 2000s; however, this trend did not continue. The nuclear dispute and sanctions, according to Open Data Iran's analyses, are another significant factor in the decline of Iran's oil production position. The database shows that with the onset of the nuclear dispute and sanctions, Iran's oil production again fell to about 3.5 million barrels per day. After the JCPOA, Iran's oil production surged significantly for two years, nearing 5 million barrels, but this situation did not last, as the largest drop in Iran's oil production after the first major post-revolution drop occurred in 2018 after the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA, and by 2020, Iran's oil production reached levels similar to those in the 1980s. According to estimates from British Petroleum, Iran's oil production (including crude oil, gas condensates, and liquefied gas) last year was over 3.8 million barrels per day, equivalent to the production record in the early 1990s. Before the revolution, during peak oil production years (1974-1976), the oil production of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia was only 70% and 40% higher than Iran, but this gap has now widened to the extent that U.S. and Saudi oil production is 220% to 370% higher, or 3 to 5 times that of Iran.