Azernews.Az

The statement of Iranian ex oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi that Iran being the only country capable of supplying the market with its oil for the next 150 years is exaggerated, EU economic adviser Mehrdad Emadi told Trend news agency.

Mirkazemi said several days ago that given the country's proven oil reserves at 154.5 billion barrels and provided that the annual oil production remain steady at 4 million barrels per day, the country can export oil for the next 150 years.

"Aside from the sanctions, this statement is to make people in Iran believe that the West, despite sanctions, is in need of Iranian oil," Emadi explained. "Even if it is so, I believe the need is not as big as the statement said".

Emadi also said that there can be undiscovered storages of oil in Iran, according to international organizations which publish reports on the country.

However, the adviser believes that Iran, in normal conditions, will not be able to significantly increase its oil exports, if a new oil well is not discovered. The reason for that, according to Emadi is big consumption of oil inside the country.

"Within OPEC, in the next 25 years, if Iran's domestic consumption remains high, it will be exporting very little of oil above its average," Emadi said.

Referring to the statement by Iranian parliament about the proper management of energy resources in the country, Emadi noted that if energy consumption is not managed, then the consumption of oil domestically in Iran will continue to grow.

According to Iran's parliament, if there is no way to stop the increase of domestic energy consumption, then Iran can be out of options to export oil in just 8-12 years.

"Even if we put sanctions aside, Iran's oil production has declined by some 500,000 barrels," Emadi said. "This has happened because of wrong management of oil wells, and lack of investments for new developments in the sphere."