Despite growing opposition by the US, Iran continues to increase its oil production levels considerably. However, major plans of the country to boost production are likely to be hampered by the need for foreign investment.

In a statement Gholamhossein Nozari, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said,  “Iran’s oil income last year was about $54 billion and oil production in the New Year will definitely increase this year.” During Faryardin, Iranian month that begins on March 21 and ends on April 20, there was an increase in oil production by over 50,000 barrels in what is seen to be barrels/day. A month ago, Nozari put Iran’s oil output at nearly 4 million barrels/day with capacity of 4.26 million barrels/day and that the plan was to raise output capacity of crude to 5.3 million by the year 2015, according to the news from Daily Times.

With the world’s second largest gas & oil reserves in its possession, Iran is making efforts to woo international oil & gas companies for investment, unmindful of increasing threats by the US & UN over its controversial nuclear program. The neighboring countries along with European powers have also expressed their willingness to negotiate with Iran with the objective of meeting their energy needs from it.

Located in southwest Iran, Yadavaran has been tipped to reach production levels of 300,000 barrels a day. This is equivalent to the amount that Iran currently exports to China. After Saudi Arabia and Angola, Iran ranks as the third largest oil supplier to China.

But in the opinion of some industry experts, Iran has drawn up major plans to boost oil production to exceed 4.5 million by 2010 and 5.3 million by 2015. In order to fulfill these plans Iran is in need of billions of dollars in foreign investment. Some estimates have put the amount Iran requires at around $100 billion by 2014 to continue the current production levels, failing which the unstable Iranian economy may crumble.

According to a RNCOS research analyst, Iran is of major economic interest to EU, Russia, China and Japan. But due to Iran’s isolation over the nuclear controversy and the more stringent economic and trade sanctions, these countries are hesitant to make investments. Many US and European banks have even bowed to US pressure to suspend all ties with Iran.

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