Zangeneh told Iranian media outlets on Wednesday that the country’s crude output would reach 4mn/bpd by March 2017.
He said Iran’s annual budget predicts the amount of oil export to be around 2,250,000 bpd.
“This means our production this [Iranian calendar] year (started March 20) will reach four million barrels per day.”
The oil minister said the crude output experienced a surge on the heels of the removal of anti-Iran sanctions in January under a nuclear agreement reached between Tehran and the permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5+1) last July.
The economic restrictions imposed on Iran in early 2012 over its nuclear program had decreased Iranian oil exports from a peak of 2.5 million bpd before 2011 to just over one million in recent years.
“Iran’s oil export has increased since the lifting of sanctions … for 10 months since March 2016, Iran’s average monthly oil export was around 1,350,000 bpd,” Zangeneh was quoted as saying.
He added that Iran’s crude exports will top 2 million bpd in the two Iranian calendar months ending on April 19.
Meanwhile, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet with non-OPEC producers in the Qatari capital, Doha, on April 17 to discuss a possible oil output freeze to prop up prices, according to Reuters.
The Doha talks are expected to widen February’s initial output freeze deal by Qatar, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member Russia.
Iranian officials have expressed Tehran’s determination to continue increasing its oil production and exports until it regains its pre-sanction market position.
Zangeneh said last month Iran would join oil production freeze discussions after its own production reached four million bpd, the Students News Agency (ISNA) reported.