Iran’s daily oil output falls by 20,000 barrels

TEHRAN,Dec.24 (MNA)--Iran’s oil output has decreased by 20,000 barrels per day to date compared to the year before, the National Iranian Oil Company’s (NIOC) managing director said. Ahmad Qalebani added that although the daily output was 27,000 barrels higher than the figure two years ago, but is has declined by 20,000 barrels compared to the preceding year. Gas output, however, increased by 10 percent year on year, he noted. An NIOC official said earlier this month that the country will not boost crude output in the current year compared with the year before. Mohammad-Ali Emadi said that the country’s oil output would rise by one million barrels per day by 2015. According to Iran’s fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015), the country’s gas production capacity should increase by 250 million cubic meters per day, he noted. He also said that Iran’s crude oil reserves will end by the next 50 years, adding that the oil deposits are recoverable by 29 percent on the average. Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in August that the Iranian government should consider plans for the development of joint oilfields. The government should increase the budgets for the development of joint oilfields, Qasemi added. "The oil industry's infrastructure needs more than 500 trillion rials (about 50 billion U.S. dollars) of investment to achieve Iran's 20-year economic perspective plan goals," Qasemi was quoted as saying. Qasemi said that the private sector should form "huge oil consortiums" to finance energy projects in the country and to exploit joint oil fields.