Iran will not pursue a market-share battle for the sale of its crude oil once US-led sanctions on the country are lifted, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said. 

Zangeneh has already called on OPEC to make room for recovered Iranian oil production which was cut by half under the sanctions.

The country expects to boost output by 1 million barrels per day after a nuclear agreement is reached by the end of June.

But “Iran has not put an oil price war in the market on the agenda under any circumstances” when the sanctions are lifted, Zangeneh said.

The minister said Iran’s oil marketing and sale methods will undergo changes when international restrictions are removed.

“We will follow a policy of boosting and upgrading security for the Iranian crude oil demand in the long-term,” he said.

Zangeneh said he was confident that not a single Iranian barrel would be without a customer when the sanctions are lifted.

“Through using new marketing method and investment, Iran’s oil demand security will be raised. There is no room for worry,” he added.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] A general view from Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.[/caption]

Iran’s production and exports of crude oil and gas condensates have steadily risen as nuclear negotiations have shifted to a high gear.

Iranian supplies have hit their highest since July 2012, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Its daily crude oil production rose by 10,000 barrels per day and exports surpassed 1 million bdp in April.

The country also recorded exports of 7 million barrels on a single day within its OPEC quota early in the spring which engaged all the eight oil terminals on the Kharg Island for the first time in 10 years, the Mehr news agency reported.

Iran has also started using four new oil storage tankers in Kharg, CEO of the Iranian Oil Terminals Company (IOTC) Pirouz Mousavi has said.

“With the operation of this project, Iran’s bargaining power in the oil market has increased and its operational capability for oil exports has risen 16%,” he said.

By Press TV