Established in 1998, Petropars was founded to contribute toward the development of Iran’s vast energy resources. It specializes as a developer of exploration, exploitation and production in upstream projects.

Iran plans to double its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production in the post-sanctions era, Deputy Director of International Affairs for Marketing and Crude Oil Operation in the National Iranian Oil Company Safar-Ali Karamati said.

Tehran is seeking to make up for lost trade to Europe following the lifting of EU sanctions imposed in 2011 and 2012, which deprived it of a market that accounted for over a third of its exports and left it relying completely on Asian buyers.

The Russian camp was locked in negotiations with the Saudis, Qataris and Venezuelans — a core group that had first backed the freeze in February.

Some 18 OPEC and non-OPEC countries, including Russia, had been meant to meet on Sunday morning in the Qatari capital of Doha and rubber-stamp a deal - in the making since February - to freeze output at January levels until October 2016.

Oil-producing countries can come to an agreement capping crude production at January levels even if Iran doesn’t join the move to help shore up prices.

OPEC secondary sources put Iran's current output at 2.93 million barrels per day (bpd). It is working to regain market share, particularly in Europe, after the lifting of international sanctions in January. The sanctions had cut crude exports from a peak of 2.5 million bpd before 2011 to just over 1 million bpd in recent years.

According to documents prepared by the oil ministry and obtained by NGE in mid-March, South Pars produces a little less than half of Iran's total raw gas, meaning Iran's total raw gas production was above 260bn m3 in the last fiscal year.

China's total oil imports rose about 20 percent on year to the highest ever on a daily basis in February, when near 10-year low global oil prices drove buying from a group of new importers and for state and commercial stockpiling.

U.S. companies are welcome to invest in Iran's oil and gas industry, the Iranian oil minister said.