NIOC Plans to Increase Oilfield Capacity

NIOC’s deputy head, Gholamreza Manouchehri, made the announcement on Tuesday, Oil Price reported. Iran aims to raise its crude oil production to 4.2 million bpd, but it is against the steep increase in OPEC production proposed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Last week, Iran said it would veto any substantial increase in oil production across the organization and will rely on the support of Iraq and Venezuela. Now, sources close to OPEC say there are discussions of a more modest increase—about 300,000 bpd to 600,000 bpd—to appease the opponents. This is while Russia is in favor of a 1.5-million-bpd production hike, which is just 300,000 bpd less than the total cut agreed to by OPEC and its partners in 2016. Bloomberg notes in a report that not all OPEC members would be able to increase production, regardless of the size of the increase, according to Financial Tribune.