Iran thumbs nose at Washington on oil

Daniel J. Graeber

Iran says it's still getting more of its oil to the international market despite Washington's latest policy stance. Photo by Pepj/Shutterstock

Iran is still able to get its crude oil to the international market and increase production despite souring U.S. relations, an Iranian official said Friday.

The White House is expected to hit Iran with new sanctions in response to a recent missile test after putting Tehran "on notice" earlier this week. Iran secured relief from some Western sanctions in early 2016 after the United Nations confirmed compliance with a multilateral deal that scaled back Tehran's nuclear research program.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of Iran's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission, said Iran was still secured by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear agreement is called.

"Despite enemies' economic war against Iran, we were able to increase oil export from 1 million barrels per day to 2.4 million bpd by raising exploitation of oil fields," he was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying.

The Iranian government during the latter half of last year reached preliminary arrangements with several foreign energy companies, including some that have their main business offices in the United States. Its oil ministry this year released a list of 29 foreign oil and gas companies that are qualified to take part in any upcoming tenders for exploration and production.

Though most of those are Asian companies, the National Iranian Oil Co. said the list is a "big step" in opening Iranian oil and natural gas fields up to Western investors. Boroujerdi accused the Trump administration of widening the diplomatic gaps with some of Washington's strongest allies while boasting of Iran's growing ties with European powers.

Iran is the only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that has an allowance for production growth according to a deal reached last year.