PRODUCTION CAPACITY
Earlier on Tuesday, Qasemi said Iran was still producing 4 million barrels per day (bpd), rejecting reports the country’s output has fallen to around 2.7 million bpd.
According to the latest secondary source estimates published by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran pumped just 2.72 bpd in September, and Iran’s own data submitted to OPEC showed the country produced 3.75 million bpd in August.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Iranian exports fell to a new low of 860,000 bpd in September, down from 2.2 million bpd at the end of 2011.
Assuming a crude oil price of $110, such a sharp drop means Iran making just $95 million dollars from daily crude sales last month, about $147 million less every day than it was making late last year.
Nevertheless, Qasemi said Iran was pumping oil at full capacity and refining more of its own oil to meet domestic demand.
“It is currently 4 million barrels per day,” he said, declining to give export figures.
“Iran has been facing U.S. sanctions for 30 years while successfully managing its oil sector,” he said.
He said Iran’s refining capacity was now 2 million barrels per day (bpd) with another 200,000 bpd of capacity to be added before the end of Iranian year next March.
The increase in refining capacity had already ended Iran’s need to import vehicle fuel and could soon drive a boom in fuel exports, the minister said.
“Our daily consumption of petrol (gasoline) is 90 million liters … Earlier, a big portion of that was being imported but we no longer import products,” he said.
“Right now, we not only don’t import but we also export some products … there are always customers for Iranian oil.
“By the end of the Iranian year they will reach their maximum capacity and then we can export more Iranian oil products,” he said.
(Reporting by Daniel Fineren and Amena Bakr, additional reporting by Christopher Johnson and Alex Lawler in London, writing by Christopher Johnson; editing by Keiron Henderso
Article Appeared @http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/23/us-iran-oil-idUSBRE89M0EP20121023