Figures by the Energy Institute (EI), cited in a Saturday report by ILNA news agency, showed that Iran’s oil and condensates production had reached an average of 3.94 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, up 19% from figures reported in 2022.
The growth was more than 13 times higher than a global average oil production increase of 1.4% as the world’s average output reached 82.636 million bpd last year, the data showed.
Only Guyana’s output growth of 40.8% was higher than Iran’s although the small South American nation’s production hovered at around a tiny figure of 0.391 million bpd.
All major oil producers except the United States recorded declines in output last year, including Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest, which saw its production drop by 8.6% compared to 2022 while Russia recorded a 1.1% reduction. The United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, recorded a growth in oil production of 8.5%, showed figures by the EI, an energy data company based in London.
Iran’s oil production has steadily increased since the second half of 2020, two years after the US imposed sanctions on the country’s oil exports after withdrawing from a landmark international deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Estimates by the Iranian Oil Ministry indicate the country’s oil output will exceed a milestone of 4 million bpd by March next year.