Azernews.Az

Iran is constructing the Middle East's biggest floating oil export terminal, the Managing Director of the National Iranian Offshore Oil Company Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said on Tuesday.

"The facility will come on stream by the Iranian month of Mehr (September 23 - October 22)," the IRNA News Agency quoted Zirkchianzadeh as saying.

"The facility has the capacity to store 2.2 million barrels of oil," he said.

Zirakchianzdeh went on to say that the country's oil storage capacity will reach 8.1 million barrels by the end on the current calendar year (March 20, 2014).

The Iranian Oil Terminals Company (IOTC) Managing Director Seyyed Pirouz Mousavi said in May that Iran will launch a floating oil export terminal in order to boost country's capability to export crude oil and reduce storage costs in the Persian Gulf, the Tasnim News Agency reported.

Considering that a large number of joint oil and gas fields are located in the Persian Gulf, such a terminal will help the country expedite oil storage and export operations, he added.

The first floating oil terminal, named Sourena, is currently exporting crude oil produced in Norouz and Soroush fields in the Persian Gulf.

Previously, Mousavi said that in less than two years, Iran will increase its export of gas condensate from the current level of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.2 million pbd.

The IOTC chief said Iran currently exports condensate from the southern port of Asalouyeh, adding that the country plans to further boost condensate exports by building new facilities near the city of Kangan in Bushehr Province, south Iran.

Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says the country has significantly developed its capacity to ship oil overseas despite U.S.-backed sanctions.

Qasemi noted that despite the U.S.-led sanctions against Tehran, the country has overhauled its oil industry by developing its shipping industry and expanding its oil market.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors.

The sanctions, which prevent the EU member states from purchasing Iranian oil or extending insurance coverage for tankers carrying Iranian crude, came into effect on July 1, 2012.