Iran is producing oil at its Opec quota even though production from its Soroush and Nowrouz fields fluctuates, a senior oil official was quoted as saying by Iran's ISNA news agency on Sunday.
Iran's quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is 4.11 million barrels per day (bpd). According to a Reuters survey, Iran's output in February was 3.85 million bpd.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has sufficient capacity to produce oil at the level of its quota and it will continue producing oil at that level," Iran's Opec Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said, ISNA reported.
Giving a breakdown, Ardebili said Iran was refining 1.68 million bpd of crude in its refineries, mostly for domestic consumption, and exported 2.5 million bpd - suggesting total output slightly above quota.
Ardebili said output from Soroush and Nowrouz fluctuated between 100,000 and 190,000 bpd but said this was not affecting Iran's ability to meet its quota. He said he was responding to reports about the impact of the fields' output on overall production.
"Whenever we decrease the production from Soroush and Nowrouz due to technical problems or lack of customers for this specific crude, the secondary sources magnify the issue and try to show that the decrease in Iran's oil production is more than reality," he was quoted as saying.
On March 10, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said production from Soroush and Nowrouz fields, developed by Royal Dutch Shell, was expected to hit 190,000 bpd by mid-May.