Report: Iran plans to increase crude oil production, up to 5.2 million barrels per day by 2016
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Iran's oil minister has said the country plans to increase its oil production capacity to up to 5.2 million barrels per day by early 2016.
A Sunday report by state TV quotes Rostam Ghasemi as saying this requires some $300 billion investment in the oil industry.
He says current capacity is about four million barrels per day.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The remarks come as the country is struggling to sell crude oil due to Western sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, which the West suspects has a military dimension. Iran denies the charge.
According to the International Energy Agency, Iran's oil exports plunged to 1 million barrels a day in July, after standing at the 1.74-million-barrel mark a month earlier. Crude oil exports account for about 80 percent of the country's foreign revenue.