Press TV- Iran�s oil production increased by 18.8 percent in the first nine months of 2016, reaching�3.92 million barrels per day (mb/d), the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) says.


Iran�s oil output, including gas condensate, stood at 4.170 mb/d in September, about 870,000 b/d more than September 2015, the EIA said in a report.

It added that Iran�s oil production in September was the highest since late 1980s.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Iran�s oil production�reached a new record high of 3.665 million barrels per day (mb/d) in September.

Iran�has announced that it produced over 560,000 b/d of gas condensate in September.

Iran is presently OPEC�s third largest producer after Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

It has repeatedly announced that Iran plans to increase its oil production to as high as four�mb/d, the level�that existed before US-led sanctions imposed against Tehran in 2011.

The sanctions mainly prevented foreign investments in Iran�s oil industry that it needed for its oil production. They also restricted the country�s oil exports to around one mb/d.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -�the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany signed a nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015, under�which Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.