Iran’s Oil Minister, Bijan Zanganeh, said that the country’s oil and condensate revenues are expected to reach $41b in the country’s current fiscal year ending on 20 March 2017, Kallanish Energy reported.

Zanganeh described the current oil market conditions as ‘satisfactory’, noting that oil revenues reached $24.7b during the first nine months of the current Iranian fiscal year, according to Oil Price. Furthermore, Zanganeh comments came as early January the National Iranian Oil Company issued a list of 29 companies that have qualified for bidding in oil and gas tenders.

Since Western sanctions against Iran were lifted, Tehran has been quickly ramping up crude oil production, aiming to reach pre-sanction levels. The right to reach pre-sanction levels was the Islamic Republic’s main bargaining chip while pleading for an exemption from the OPEC producers’ supply-cut deal.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in an end-of-mission statement in December that increased oil production and exports are expected to take Iran out of the recession that it was in 2015/16 and lead to 6.6% growth in real GDP in 2016/17. Since the lifting of the sanctions, Iran has been eager not only to increase production to previous levels, but also to lure international oil companies back to developing the country’s vast oil and gas fields.