Iran’s state-run companies have signed 13 contracts with local contractors that aim to raise oil production by over 180,000 b/d, as part of the country’s policy to be in a position to regain lost market share once sanctions against its energy sector are lifted, oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said at the signing ceremony Aug. 17. “These projects bear a message right now that we work under the sanctions… some would ask me whether it’s necessary to create production capacity while you have surplus capacity and you cannot use the capacity fully under the sanctions,” Zanganeh said. “The sanctions are temporary… the power of a country in the oil market doesn’t come from its reservoirs, rather from its production capacity,” he said. “When someday the sanctions are lifted, would we want to start repairing our wells, […]