In an interview with Shana on the occasion of the Government Week, Farokh Alikhani, NIOC deputy director of production affairs, stated that NIOC had taken the sanctions and the ensuing constraints caused gy the sanctions as an opportunity to build capacity for production in operational districts and removing the production bottlenecks.

-What are your priorities in the production department?

The first priority is right policy making in the field of production. The 6 NIOC subsidiaries include the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), Iranian Central Oil Fields Company, Arvandan Oil and Gas Company, Iran Oil Terminals Company, and the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC). I think the most important thing for us to do is to ensure integrity and harmony between these companies and prevent sporadic activities. The second key concern in our department is the assets of the oil industry. In today's oil industry, assets, including physical assets, human capital, financial matters, etc. are of prime importance.

-What are the ups and downs of oil production under the current sanctions?

Let me first say that conditions are difficult, of course, but are under control; obviously, these difficult conditions cannot be overcome without a wide range of measures. So, we face many challenges and ups and downs, not just in production, but in all the processes. But, allow me to also say that we have taken advantage of the sanctions to fix production bottlenecks and to catch up on some of the backlog in repairing, rebuilding and even refurbishing the facilities, and I can say, we are well prepared to resume maximum oil production.

-Given the current situation in the oil industry, the joint fields are exempted from assigned production reductions. It is true?

Yes. We have no production reduction in joint fields. In sum, note that various quantitative and qualitative parameters are involved in determining the amount of production, including our commitments regarding downstream obligations (feeding refineries, petrochemical plants and power plants) and exports. In Iran, we are a producer of different brands of crude oil and due to the variety of exported crude oil in our country and the nature of the receiving refineries, this issue is also taken into consideration in the production process.