Iran bullish about oil potential

Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh said the country is bent on increasing the level of oil production despite Western economic sanctions.

Zanganeh told the Oil Ministry's official news site, Shana, the Iranian government wasn't waiting for the United States and its allies to relax sanctions on the energy sector.

"[We] will readily tap all the resources to sell more oil despite sanctions," he said in an interview published Monday. "We are hoping to see sanctions shrink, however, we assume the harshest circumstances and draw up our roadmap assuming that sanctions will not be altered."

The minister said Iran was ready to produce more than 4.2 million barrels of oil per day during the current calendar year, which began last month.

Iran secured sanctions relief under the terms of an interim nuclear deal brokered in November. Another round of nuclear talks gets under way in Vienna this week.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department said General Electric and Boeing could sell commercial airline parts to Iran, though much of the sanctions on Iran's energy sector remain in place.

[SHANA]