“Even if the oil [falls] to 20 dollars, Iran will be producing 4 mb/d after the lifting of sanctions,” Zanganeh told reporters in Vienna ahead of the 164th ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Zanganeh’s words were a decisive response to Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi who had underestimated Iran’s capability to produce this amount of crude oil.
On Tuesday Zanganeh said the country will “immediately” raise its crude oil exports to 4 mb/d once US-led sanctions have been lifted.
“We have no technical difficulties to expand our exports and to return to four million barrels a day oil output,” the Iranian minister said.
Zanganeh’s remarks come against the backdrop of a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers.
On November 24, Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the US, Russia, France, China, Britain- plus Germany sealed a six-month accord to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.
In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
