Iran to miss 2010 oil output target

TEHRAN (AFP) –
Iran will miss its 2010 crude oil production target by 500,000 million barrels per day (bpd) owing to a lack of investment in ageing oil fields.

Crude oil production could reach 4.5 million bpd by the end of the state’s fourth five-year development plan (2005-2010), well under the original production target of 5.0 million bpd, National Iranian Oil Company managing director Gholam Hossein Nozari said Tuesday.

“We are not close to the 5.0 million bpd target of the fourth plan. More than 80 percent of the current total oil output is being provided from aged oil fields that need serious investment to increase production,” he said.

He put the countrys current oil production at 4.08 million bpd, which is 30,000 less than its
OPEC quota.

AFP