Zangeneh: Iran's Oil Production Will Reach 4.5 Million Barrels Per Day

Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran's Minister of Oil, stated that Iran's oil production, including gas condensates, will reach 4.5 million barrels per day by the end of this year. He mentioned that five phases of the South Pars gas field will be launched this year, increasing gas condensate production to 688,000 barrels per day. Accordingly, it is expected that Iran's daily crude oil production will be approximately 3 million and 812 thousand barrels for this year; according to OPEC statistics, Iran's current oil production is 3 million and 650 thousand barrels. Gas condensates are a type of light crude oil produced from gas wells. Iran currently produces over 500 thousand barrels of gas condensates daily, with exports reaching about four hundred thousand barrels per day in the first half of the year. According to Mehr News Agency, Zangeneh also stated on Monday, October 18, that gas production from the South Pars field will reach the level of Qatar's production this year. Last year, Iran produced about 430 million cubic meters of gas from this shared field daily, but it is planned to increase this amount to 530 million cubic meters by the end of this year, which exceeds Qatar's production level. Zangeneh stated that the total rich gas produced in the country will reach 900 million cubic meters for this year and 1 billion cubic meters per day for the next year. He also mentioned that about 5 million tons will be added to petrochemical production capacity this year. Currently, the nominal capacity of Iran's petrochemical plants is about 60 million tons, but in practice, less than 50 million tons were produced last year. According to Zangeneh, the oil industry's needs under the Sixth Development Plan (year 1400) require about 200 billion dollars in investment, of which 134 billion will be spent on oil and gas projects. He did not specify how much of this amount is expected to be covered by foreign investments, but Iran is preparing to announce tenders for the development of 49 oil and gas fields. Zangeneh stated that within five years, Iran's petrochemical and refining industries will need 52 billion and 15 billion dollars in investments, respectively. Iran aims to double its petrochemical capacity by the year 1400. The Iranian Oil Minister also mentioned that Iran's refining capacity will exceed 3 million barrels per day, currently at 1.8 million barrels per day.