Since March 2014, Iran has increased its gas output by 200 million cubic meters per day. The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company has said that by boosting 100 million cubic meters per day of gas in the current year, Iran is ready to outpace Qatar, because seven phases of the South Pars will come on stream this year.

Iran has agreed a $3 billion contract with a consortium of Indian companies to develop the Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf, according to the Mehr news agency. The managing director of ONGC Videsh, the Indian company heading the partnership, said they had not yet been notified about the development.

Differing views about who should bear the brunt of oil production cuts to lift prices forced Opec to default to its existing policy to keep on pumping last week. This has laid bare the gaping divide between Saudi Arabia and its arch rival Iran.

Sinopec Corp (0386.HK), Asia's largest refiner, and Chinese state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp will together lift around 505,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iran in 2016, the same as this year when they took roughly half of the Islamic Republic's total exports, the sources said.

“We are interested to come back to Iran when the sanctions are lifted and if the contracts are interesting,” Stephane Michel, Total’s head of exploration and production in the Middle East said at the conference. “We have worked in this country for a long time, so we know specific fields on which we’ve worked.”

The government hopes international companies will commit at least $100 billion that Iran says it needs to boost oil-production capacity by more than 1 million barrels a day.

“I think, Iran can become a major gas supplier to the Persian Gulf and regional markets, but European LNG markets are a tough competitive place for Iran."

Russia is a strategic partner of Iran, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said during the talks with Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Tehran at the third Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit on Monday."Moscow is a strategic partner of Iran," the Iranian minister was quoted by IRNA news agency.

"To increase Iran's oil production in the global market after the lifting of sanctions, we don't need permission from OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) or any other organization," Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying by IRNA on the sidelines of the meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran.

“The drop in prices won’t be a concern for us,” Zanganeh said. “It should be a concern for those who have replaced Iran.” Iran doesn’t expect difficulties selling the additional barrels, and “the market has taken into account our return,” he said.