TEHRAN, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The director at an Iranian oil company said increased production from major domestic fields could boost overall output by 450,000 bpd by early 2012.
A consortium of domestic companies secured contracts to develop Iran's Khesht oil field, which state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports holds more than 1 billion barrels of oil.
Two other fields in southern Iran, Sarvestan and Sa'adatabad, could boost oil production by 45,000 barrels per day, said Mehdi Fakour, managing director of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Co.
Those fields collectively hold more than 1.4 billion barrels of oil. Fakour added that engineers were fast-tracking deployment of equipment needed to accelerate operations at domestic fields.
A bill passed this week in the United States gave the White House authority to put more pressure on the Iranian Central Bank, which would make it harder for foreign companies to pay Tehran for oil imports. The European Union has targeted more Iranian figures with sanctions but stopped short over an outright ban.
Iran, the No. 3 oil exporter in the world, said if the Europeans had other options, they would have imposed further sanctions.
