Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh said this week that the country could boost its crude oil production and exports back to pre-sanctions levels in just three days. Speaking at a conference in Tehran, local media quotes him saying that if US sanctions were lifted, the sector could bounce back spectacularly quickly. Farokh Alikhani, NIOC deputy director for production, similarly told the Shana news agency that “we are well prepared to resume maximum oil production.”
Certainly exports could increase rapidly, from just 399,000 b/d last month. Data intelligence firm Kpler pegged Iran’s “floating storage” at nearly 56mn barrels at end-June, enough for nearly a month’s worth of exports at 2mn b/d. As for production itself, a timeframe in weeks if not months still looks likely. (CONTINUED - 129 WORDS)