AME Info- Iran�s Arvandan Oil and Gas Co hopes to raise its crude output capacity to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) by late March, the oil ministry�s news website SHANA said on Saturday.

Soltan Kamali, managing director of Arvandan, a subsidiary of the state�s National Iranian Oil Co, said the firm�s production capacity had reached 400,000 bpd, SHANA reported.

�We hope that this figure will reach 450,000 bpd by the end of the year,� Kamali was quoted as saying. He was referring to the Iranian year, which ends on March 20, 2017.

Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, won an exemption from the group�s production cuts agreed on Nov. 30 and may raise output slightly.