The newly-appointed CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company says the country is determined to increase its oil production from oilfields in the south, especially those that straddle the Iran-Iraq border.

According to The Iran Project, Hamid Bovard said on Saturday that he had set up special taskforces in the NIOC to discuss and remove hurdles impeding Iran’s plans to raise output in southern oil and gas fields.

Bovard said his focus as new NIOC chief will be to provide more funding and resources to the National Iranian South Oil Company as the largest oil producing firm in Iran to allow it to increase its production in the coming months.

The official, who also serves as an Iranian deputy oil minister, made the remarks after a tour of southern Iranian oilfields earlier this week. During the trip, he held meetings with senior managers of Arvandan Oil & Gas Company, a firm which is in charge of oil production from some major oil reserves near Iran’s border with Iraq.

Bovard said in the meeting that oil production from reserves that are shared with Iraq must increase significantly until the end of the current calendar year in March.

That comes amid reports suggesting Iran is ramping up its oil output despite the continued pressure of US sanctions on the country’s petroleum industry.