Iran will be able to raise its crude oil exports to 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) after the U.S. sanctions on its oil industry are lifted, a top Iranian official said over the weekend, while reports emerged that the talks in Vienna for bringing Iran and the U.S. back to the nuclear deal had made progress.
"Oil sales have dropped a lot, but now the situation is better, and we are in control. We will be able to increase oil exports to 2.5mn b/d after removal of the sanctions," Argus quoted Iran's vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri as saying.
The United States is currently in indirect talks about the Iran nuclear deal with diplomats from Europe, Russia, and China in Vienna.
Currently, the U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration are preventing Iran from exporting all of its oil, as many buyers around the world don't want to risk their U.S. assets by doing business with Iran. Despite the sanctions, Iran has been exporting part of its crude oil, and exports have been estimated at around 500,000 bpd recently.
U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled a willingness to return to the nuclear deal, but only if Iran returns to full compliance in its nuclear activities.
In recent months, Iran has also boosted its crude oil production, to around 2.5 million bpd in April as per the monthly Reuters survey.
During the weekend, Iranian diplomats said there was progress made in the ongoing talks in Vienna.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in remarks to a cabinet session this weekend, as carried by the website of the president:
"With the defeat of the enemy in the economic war and approaching the lifting of sanctions according to recent negotiations, we can hope that the country's economy can return to the path of balance and prosperity of the years 2014 to 2017."
But the United States National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, told ABC News' This Week:
"There's still a fair distance to travel to close the remaining gaps, and those gaps are over what sanctions the United States and other countries will roll back."
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More