Iran has instructed its oil ministry to prepare facilities for the production and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said on Sunday, ahead of a possible easing of US sanctions after the president elect Joe Biden takes office. They cited President Hassan Rouhani saying Iran exported more than two million barrels a day before the US president Triumph it exited the 2015 nuclear deal with six powers in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have hit Iran’s economy hard by slashing its vital oil exports.
Biden, who will take office on January 20, has said he would revert to the pact and lift sanctions if Tehran were to “strictly abide by the nuclear deal” again.
Rouhani said on Sunday that his country was preparing for a rapid increase in its oil production, the official IRNA news agency reported. “The Oil Ministry will take all necessary measures to prepare the oil industry facilities to produce and sell, in proportion to the available capacity, within the next three months,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying. Iran is estimated to export less than 300,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), compared to a peak of 2.8 million bpd in 2018.
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