TEHRAN, Sep 07 (Shana) -- The recent significant increase in Iran's crude oil production is definitely an important outcome of the country's landmark nuclear deal with six world powers. Iran's current output stands at 3.8 mb/d, while the country has brought its oil exports to 2 mb/d.

Iran's oil industry was at the receiving end of Western sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran due to its nuclear program. Due to the sanctions tightened in 2012, Iran's oil exports drastically declined and the country could not receive its petrodollars due to banking restrictions. Due to these unjust measures imposed by Western governments, Iran's oil production went on cautiously and the production sector witnessed a significant decline.

Iran's crude oil exports fell to 970 tb/d during the first five months of the calendar year 1392, which started in March 2013. Therefore, Iran's share in global oil markets declined and some other countries took Iran's share.

After President Hassan Rouhani took office, Iran's nuclear talks with six world powers entered a new phase and the sanctions were gradually lifted.

NISOC at Forefront of Output Hike

After Iran's nuclear deal with world powers took effect last January, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh announced that Iran is willing to raise its crude oil output by 500 tb/d. He was banking in on National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), which is the oil production hub of the country.

NISOC, which is Iran's largest oil production company, had adopted significant strategies when the country was under sanctions. Its offshoots made maximum use of the advantage of intermittent shutdown of wells and some facilities for overhaul.

A series of technical operations were required in 1,738 wells, 148 production units and 4,316 km of pipelines. During the calendar years 1393 and 1394, some 19,000 items of down-hole engineering tools, 651 processing reforms, more than 1,000 overhauls of processing equipment, 307 cases of overhaul of rotary machinery and tens of cases of pipeline thickness measurement were carried out by five oil and gas production companies affiliated with NISOC. All this was aimed at sustainable readiness for the resumption of production.

South Turbine Engineering Services Company, which was tasked with this major overhaul plan, has overhauled 37 gas turbines and 29 solar compressors in the past year alone and delivered to NISOC offshoots. Smart pig running in export pipelines was another important measure aimed at boosting the safety of pipelines and ensuring continued production in all pipelines, as well as successful planning and scheduling.

920,000 Output Hike

Bijan Alipour, CEO of NISOC, told Iran Petroleum that this company is producing 2.92 mb/d of oil.

"In our production hike plan, 920 tb/d was added to this company's production and we are planning to produce up to 3 mb/d," he said.

Regarding the manner of reaching this objective, he said: "Work-over of wells, drilling of new wells and overhaul affairs across NISOC-run fields could be referred to as the most important plan ahead with a view to 3 mb/d production."

Abdorreza Dabiri, production manager at NISOC, said overhaul has been a contributor to production hike by this company. He added that the overhaul done over the past three years, equals similar operations carried out over ten years.

He said NISOC's production dropped to between 1.95 mb/d and 2.1 mb/d during years of sanctions, adding that efforts by manpower and a sense of solidarity within NISOC helped increase output to the current level.

3.8 mb/d Target

This planning, along with the aforesaid measures, encouraged NISOC subsidiaries to bring Iran's crude oil production to 3.8 mb/s as targeted.

Zangeneh recently said that Iran's increased oil production has improved the country's status in world markets and within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"We had promised the President a production hike and this achievement was made thanks to production companies like Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), Arvandan [Oil and Gas Production Company], Iran Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) and particularly NISOC," added the minister.

Referring to the recent OPEC Conference, Zangeneh said: "This production increase improved Iran's position in the meeting because Iran had realized its objective and the world believed this."

Iran sits atop 158 billion barrels of proven crude oil, which makes up 9.3 percent of the world's proven reserves. Iran stands third in the world in terms of proven oil reserves, just behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

According to a 2025 Vision Plan, Iran should become the second OPEC largest producer. For this purpose, Iran will have to be supplying 7% of the world's total oil and 8% of its gas by that time. To reach this objective, Iran needs to develop joint fields which are a main pillar of the Resilient Economy.

In addition to that, reconstruction of existing facilities, domestic and foreign investment, expansion of research and technology and supervision on their work along with modern management methods could prove effective on this issue.

Now in the light of political and economic overtures and international companies' interest in investment in Iran within the framework of new oil contracts, one must wait and see how conditions will proceed in the future.

By SHANA