TEHRAN — Oil swap from Caspian Sea has been increased from 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 150,000 bpd, Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, director at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for international affairs said here on Saturday.

“This is a significant amount of increase, which is planned to further grow to 200,000 bpd in the near future”, he told the Mehr News Agency (MNA).

However, he added, Iran presently faces the problem of oil mercaptan in oil swap. “The oil swap from the Caspian Sea can be escalated to 250,000 bpd upon resolving the problem,” he assured.

The senior NIOC official opined that Iran could easily double the current amount of oil swap via Caspian Sea and Central Asia with the purpose of using imported oil in its northern refineries and exporting the equal amount through its southern ports.