Zangeneh's Letter to OPEC Regarding Oil Production Increase After Sanctions Lifted

Iran's Minister of Oil has stated that in a letter to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), he announced that the Islamic Republic will restore its oil production to pre-sanction levels "in a very short time" after the lifting of Western sanctions. He warned that Iran will not "wait for anyone's decision" to increase its oil production. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), Bijan Zangeneh emphasized on Wednesday, June 3, on the sidelines of the 167th OPEC meeting in Vienna, that Iran has requested the organization to "consider this issue in its decisions." He also mentioned that Iran will not wait for OPEC's response to this letter to increase its oil production. Zangeneh's statements come as Reuters reported that a senior member of OPEC indicated a consensus among members to maintain production ceilings at this meeting. However, Zangeneh stated: "If OPEC members want prices to remain around this level, we expect them to make room for Iran's oil to enter the market." According to Zangeneh, the current production ceiling of OPEC is "not yet divided among countries." The OPEC production ceiling is currently 30 million barrels per day, but according to the organization's monthly statistics, member countries produced 30 million and 843 thousand barrels per day in April. Bloomberg reported on May 17 that simultaneously, oil exports from Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia have increased, with all three countries raising their production. Before international sanctions due to its nuclear activities, Iran exported 2.5 million barrels of oil daily and produced about 3.7 million barrels, but after sanctions, Iran's oil exports dropped to about one million barrels per day. Reports indicate that in January, Iran raised its daily exports to one million and 230 thousand barrels and in the previous month to one million and 300 thousand barrels. Meanwhile, according to Mehr News Agency, during the Iranian Oil Minister's visit to Vienna for the OPEC meeting, new negotiations with the Russian company Lukoil will take place on the sidelines of the OPEC meeting. Additionally, Hamid Reza Araqi, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister, reported on Tuesday, coinciding with the Global Gas Conference in Paris, that negotiations with a hundred gas companies and groups are taking place on the sidelines of this conference, focusing on "investment in refining, transmission, distribution, and trade of gas." In May, reports emerged about a visit by a delegation from American oil companies to Iran, but Jeff Rathke, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, responded to these reports by stating that it is still too early for trade with Iran.