Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi announced that the country will be able to produce 700,000 more barrels of oil on a daily basis once its two new oil fields of Azadegan and Yadavaran are developed, Fars News Agency (FNA) reported.
“So far more than 20 drilling rigs have been installed in Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields and plans have been made for the daily production of 700,000 bpd of crude oil (when development of both fields is complete,)” Qassemi said on Sunday.
The minister also claimed that contracts have been signed for the development of 12 new oil fields in the past few months saying, “Development of some fields, including Azar and Changouleh oil fields has also begun.”
Yadavaran oil field is located in the southwestern Khuzestan Province bordering on Iraq. The development project of the oil field is expected to be implemented in three phases. Upon the completion of all phases, some 300,000 barrels of oil are expected to be pumped out on a daily basis, FNA reported.
While the Fars News Agency is known to often embellish the truth in hopes of bolstering the accomplishments of the Islamic Republic and the way in which it is perceived throughout the world, evidence does suggest that the sanctions implemented on the regime thus far have yet to yield desired results.
Michael Singh of The Washington Post writes, “It is true that Iran’s oil exports have declined from 2.5 million barrels per day to 1.5 million. But that reduced level is hardly meager: Iran is still one of the world’s top oil exporters, from which it earns billions in hard currency. And nothing suggests that the drop in earnings has stunted Iran’s nuclear program, which is the target of Western ire. Iran is enriching uranium faster and to higher levels than ever before.”
The “P5+1” (the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany) have already conceded by dropping demands that Iran fully halt enrichment in favor of requesting that it merely cap enrichment at a low level.
“Western policymakers’ assertions that there is time for sanctions to work are a bit like a marathon runner saying he has plenty of time to finish the race. There may be time, but the latest round of talks’ failure to make progress despite mounting pressure on Iran suggests we also have a long way to go,” Singh asserts.