Iran has made plans to sustain its oil production and export and is ready for possible oil restrictions from a Trump administration in the U.S., Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Wednesday, according to the oil ministry’s news website Shana.
In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and re-imposed sanctions which hurt Iran’s oil sector, with production dropping to 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) during his presidency.
“Required measures have been taken. I will not go into detail but our colleagues within the oil sector have taken measures to deal with the restrictions that will occur and there is no reason to be concerned,” Paknejad said.
In recent years, Iranian oil production has rebounded to around 3.2 million barrels per day according to the
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Iran is a member.
Iranian oil exports have climbed this year to near multi-year highs of 1.7 million bpd despite U.S. sanctions. Chinese refiners buy most of its supply. Beijing says it doesn’t recognise unilateral U.S. sanctions.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Louise Heavens)