Iran needs ‘months’ to hit 2 million bpd

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran needs a few more months to raise its crude oil exports to pre-sanction levels.

The country has added 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its production since the lifting of sanctions in January, the Shana news agency quoted the president telling a news conference in Tehran Sunday.

“However, in order to return to former positions, we still need several more months,” Rouhani said.

The president predicted Iran’s oil exports to hit 2 million bpd before the middle of the next Iranian year which begins on March 20, 2016 -- roughly falling around the month of August.

This means Iran has to add another 600,000 bpd to its exports during the period.

Rouhani reiterated the position that Iran must regain its market share which the country lost under sanctions in 2012.

Iranian officials have dismissed joining a recent proposal by Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze production at January levels.

“Redeeming our rights is not limited to the nuclear rights. From the standpoint of oil exports, we must return to our former position and we are returning step by step,” he said.

However, the process “will take time because we have to reactivate our wells and export oil,” Rouhani added.

Minister of Economy and Finance Ali Tayebnia said "appropriate measures" have been taken to restore Iran to its former place.

In view of those steps, "it is expected that Iran's oil sales will soon return to the level of 2 million barrels a day," the minister said in Tehran.

On Sunday, Europe got its first cargo of Iranian oil since mid-2012, Bloomberg reported. The Monte Toledo oil tanker covered the voyage from Iran to Europe with a haul of one million barrels of crude in just 17 days.

The tanker discharged its cargo into a refinery owned by the CEPSA oil company near the Spanish port of Algeciras, the report said.

Three other tankers carrying Iranian crude are heading toward Europe.

The Eurohope tanker is sailing to the Romanian port of Constanta, and the Distya Akula is anchored at the mouth of the Suez Canal on the way to a Mediterranean port. 

The Atlantas is heading to France. Total is expecting to receive the tanker later this month in its refinery in Le Havre. The French oil and gas major plans to purchase up to 200,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude under an agreement signed in January.

Europe imported about 400,000 barrels a day of oil from Iran before sanctions were imposed on the country in 2012, according to the International Energy Agency.

Iran seeks to raise oil exports by 1 million bpd. According to Bloomberg, 29 vessels loaded crude from the country last month.

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