Iran can swiftly increase production of crude if OPEC decides to scrap limits on global output when the group meets next in June, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
The Persian Gulf nation can raise daily production by at least 100,000 barrels within “five or six days” if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decides that crude prices are high enough to justify abandoning its oil-cuts accord with other producers, he told reporters in Tehran.
“We’re always adding to our production levels, from West Karoun and Azadegan,” Zanganeh said Sunday, referring to two oil-producing areas in western Iran near the Iraq border. Iran has so far exercised “self-restraint” in pumping to accommodate the group’s decision in November to maintain the cuts, he said.