Iran aims to increase its oil output capacity to 4.5 million barrels per day in two years from a current 4.3 million bpd, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said today.
Iran was pumping at around 4.15 million barrels per day, he added, speaking ahead of an Opec heads of state summit on 17-18 November in the Saudi capital.
Iran's production targets have been slipping as it fails to attract the huge sums it needs to develop the energy sector. The US has put pressure on companies to stay away as world powers threaten more sanctions over Tehran's atomic plans.
Iran had aimed for output of 5 million bpd by 2010, but officials admitted more than a year ago that they would miss that target.
The country needs $15 billion investment a year to develop its energy sector, Nozari said.
Formally accepted by Iran's parliament as minister yesterday, Nozari said his main priority would be to accelerate pending oil and gas deals.
Iran, holder of the world's second-largest gas reserves, has signed many deals with international companies to supply gas regionally and worldwide, but these have stalled due to both international and domestic politics.
If companies dithered too long in making investment decisions, Iran might develop oil and gas fields itself, Nozari said.
France's Total and Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell, along with Spain's Repsol, are among companies that have signed preliminary deals to develop Iran's giant South Pars gas field and build facilities to chill and export the gas.
Nozari declined to say how long he would give them to make an investment decision. In October, an oil ministry source said the companies had until June.
Iran will sign a memorandum of understanding on Saturday to supply natural to Bahrain, Reuters reported Nozari said.
He said the contract would be for exports to start at a rate of 1 billion cubic feet per day from 2010 and could rise to as much as 2 Bcfd.
"Our gas has a very good market in the Gulf region," Nozari said.
Gulf governments are rapidly building up the number of gas-fired power stations in the region as they ramp up power capacity to meet the needs of a petrodollar-fuelled economic boom. Heavy industry is also burning more of the fuel.
All the countries in the region are short of gas except for Qatar, which has called a halt to new projects after rapid development.
The National Iranian Gas Export Company said in a presentation this week that Iran was in talks with Bahrain over a 25-year contract to supply gas.
Rationing had reduced Iran's gasoline consumption 15% in the past six months, turning around the rapid annual growth of around 10% in recent years, Nozari said.
Despite having the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, Iran is one of the world's biggest gasoline importers as it lacks the refining capacity to meet demand. Dependency on gasoline imports is sensitive as a potential target for increased sanctions.
© Upstream 2007
