Iran has plans to raise its crude oil production capacity by 3mb/d, Trade Arabia reported, citing a top official of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

According to Hellenic Shipping News, the NIOC’ Deputy Head for Engineering and Development, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, said on the sidelines of a petroleum exhibition in Iran that the aim of boosting the country’s output capacity by such a substantial amount would be to promote and stabilize its footing in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the global market.

Manouchehri further stated that the NIOC plans to sign $80b of deals with domestic and international contractors within the next two years.

In related news, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister, Abbas Kazemi, said that the country’s oil products export has reached 450,000b/d, noting that the major products included mazut, gas oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG.) He added that, once current gasoline production projects go on stream, Iran’s gasoline output will increase by 16m liters per day.