TEHRAN (PIN) – The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) production affairs head announced that the country’s crude output would soar to 4.2 million barrels per day by the end of its current year (March 19, 2008) from current 4.15 mbpd.

Mohammad-Javad Assemipur told PIN, “according to the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan, the country needs to increase its crude oil output to 4.5 million barrels per day by 2010, but it seems we will achieve the goal much earlier than the end of the plan.”
“Predictions show that the world will invest 8.2 trillion dollars in the oil and gas sectors until 2030 and the National Iranian Oil Company’s share will be 15.7 billion dollars per annum,” Assemipur had already announced.
The NIOC production affairs chief told PIN, “Out of 8.2 trillion dollars, 4.3 trillion dollars will be invested in oil industry and 3.9 trillion dollars will go for gas sector.”
He added 75 percent of investment in oil sector and 60 percent of fund for gas industry would be allocated to the upstream projects.
“Iran will also invest 6.4 billion dollars in the upstream oil industry and 9.3 million dollars in the upstream gas industry per year,” said the official.
The NIOC deputy said the company received almost one-third of the required fund, 15.7 billion dollars, yearly and therefore the NIOC needed to supply 10.7 billion dollars through foreign capitals per year.
“Over the next 28 years, Iran needs investments of $480 billion in the oil and gas sector to materialize its long-term energy plans,” Minister of Petroleum Gholamhossein Nozari said.
Iran is planning to increase oil production to 5.3 mbpd in the next seven years, Business Standard reported.
“The government also wants to produce one billion cubic meters of gas per day during the same period,” Nozari added.
He said Iran would need an investment of around $150-160 billion over the next seven years to expand its hydrocarbon projects.