Iran aims to boost oil production

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/07/19/Iran-aims-to-boost-oil-production/UPI-63171279548832/

Iran, under a 5-year development plan, aims to increase oil production by 1 million barrels per day, an Iranian lawmaker said.

Hassan Vanaei, a lawmaker supervising Iran's latest 5-year development plan, said the Oil Ministry under the plan should increase oil production by 1 million barrels per day to 5.1 million bpd, the Iranian Oil Ministry's Petroenergy Information Network reports.

The lawmaker said his country typically experiences an annual decline in production of around 300,000 bpd and the 1 million bpd increase didn't account for the annual loss.

Iran sits on some of the largest oil and gas deposits in the world, though declining infrastructure prevents the country from exploiting its full resources.

The report from the Oil Ministry added that Iran exported more than $2 billion in petrochemical products during the first quarter.

Washington in early July passed sanctions on Iran that blacklists foreign entities doing business in the Iranian energy sector. Moscow and New Delhi, however, expressed recent frustration with the unilateral move by the United States.