TEHRAN – The managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has said the country’s oil production capacity is going to increase by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.038 million by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023).“With the measures taken, Iran's oil production capacity will increase to 4.038 million barrels per day by the end of this year,” Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr told IRNA on Friday.The official put the Islamic Republic’s current oil production capacity at 3.838 million bpd.Pointing to the increase in the country’s oil exports over the past 12 months since the 13th government has taken office, the Deputy Oil Minister said: “Considering the increase in oil production capacity, it is possible to increase our exports if demand in global markets increases.”Khojasteh-Mehr noted that the above-mentioned figure is the country’s optimal capacity and whenever the international conditions are more open, Iran will be ready to significantly increase exports and return to the world markets with maximum power.In early April, Oil Minister Javad Oji said that the country’s crude oil production has reached the pre-sanction level.Saying that the current capacity of Iran’s oil production has reached more than 3.8 million bpd, the minister said, “We hope that through the efforts of all those active in this sector, we will reach higher figures in the exports of crude oil, gas condensate, oil products, and petrochemicals in [the current Iranian calendar year] 1400 (started on March 21)”.“By taking effective measures in onshore and offshore oil fields, drilling new wells, repairing wells, rebuilding and modernizing facilities, and oil collection centers, the current oil production capacity has reached before the sanctions, and we have no problem in performance and this amount of production”, Oji added.EF/MA