MNA cited Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister Iran as saying that Iran has the capacity to raise its oil production to over 5 million barrels per day by the early 2016.

Mr Qasemi said that at present, 4 million barrels of oil and 600 million cubic per meter of gas are being produced in the country every day. The amount should increase to 5.2 million barrels of oil and 1 billion cubic per meter of gas by the end of the country's fifth 5 year development plan.

The development plan is part of the 20 Year Outlook Plan which is the country's main blueprint for long term sustainable growth. Developing joint gas and oil fields is one of the ministry's top priorities and said USD 300 million should be invested in the industry for production, storage and development.

The minister said that currently Iran produces 4 million barrels of crude oil per day adding that the country's gas production capacity has also risen to 600 million cubic meters a day. Iran sits on the world's second largest reserves of both oil and gas and it gains its major revenues from exporting it crude oil.