Iran's former OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said his country is needed to work on plans to reduce export quotas of the organization's members to find enough space in the market to raise its crude supplies.
Khatibi expressed dissatisfaction with Iran's current production capacity of four million barrels per day (bpd) and asked the Oil Ministry to raise the figure, Fars News Agency reported.
"Saudi Arabia stands atop global crude exports by supplying 10.5 million bpd while Iraq stands the second with 4.3 million oil bpd," he said at a press conference on Saturday.
"And Iran can go up the ladder to stand the second from its current third through proper investments," he added.
Iran, he noted, should boost output but it should first work on plans to reduce production quotas of OPEC members.
In August, the director for international affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said that Iran had no plans to raise oil exports until the Western sanctions on the Islamic Republic's energy sector are lifted.
Currently, Iran sells around 1.1 million bpd of crude oil to its traditional customers, the Oil Ministry website reported at the time.
Mohsen Qamsari's remarks came in reaction to reports in a section of the media claiming that Iran is planning to raise crude oil sales before the Western sanctions are lifted.
Earlier in August, NIOC Managing Director Roknoddin Javadi said the same about Iran's output level.
He said, "Any increase in Iran's oil production depends on the removal of sanctions and [the country's] oil output will not undergo any change as long as sanctions are in place."