Although Iran is capable of producing a total of 4.2 million barrels of oil per day

TEHRAN, Sept. 16--Oil Ministry’s caretaker, Gholamhossein Nozari, said oil revenues have reached $24 billion during March 21-August 21.
Elaborating on the latest achievements of the 145th meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Sunday, Nozari added that Iran’s share from the 500,000-bpd OPEC hike is 74,000 barrels, Fars News Agency reported.
Commenting on the development of Anaran oilfield, Nozari pointed out that Anaran includes Azar and Changouleh oilfields.
Another oil well in Anaran has led to the discovery of reserves estimated at 4.7 billion barrels of oil.
This oil well can produce 6,000 barrels of oil per day. Anaran oilfield has the potential of producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Nozari, who is also the managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, noted that although Iran is capable of producing a total of 4.2 million barrels of oil per day, it is producing 4.08 million barrels per day, which will be increased by 100,000 barrels per day by March 19, 2008.
“We are presently negotiating with Turkey on ceding the development of Phase 3 of South Pars Project to a Turkish company,“ he said.
He pointed out that the Pakistanis are expected to come to Iran for taking part in gas pipeline talks.
“Iran has attracted $37 billion of investments in its oil industry over the past two years,“ he said.
Nozari also said the world oil supply is sufficient and could even be more than sufficient, despite the recent rise in oil prices.

TEHRAN, Sept. 16--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iranian expatriates love Iran and are proud of Iran’s progress in all fields.
Speaking in the meeting of the High Council of Iranian Expatriates, the president noted that the name of Iran is synonymous with genuine Islam, the late Imam Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution, ISNA reported.
“Everyone likes Iran because of its stance against arrogant powers,“ he said.
The chief executive emphasized on retaining the High Council of Iranian Expatriates, despite the merger of other councils in the country.
Ahmadinejad also called on all governmental institutions to seriously follow up issues related to Iranian expatriates.
Issuing transit cards for ex-Iranians and exempting Iranian expatriates from paying exit taxes was also approved in the council’s meeting.
According to the ratification, related bylaws should be devised by the secretariat of the High Council of Iranian Expatriates.
President Ahmadinejad’s envoy in the council, Esfandiyar Rahim-Mashaei, submitted a report on the council’s policies and programs.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also reported on the achievements of Foreign Ministry’s legal and consular working group, including its progress in conducting the comprehensive census for Iranian expatriates.
Secretary of the council, Ali Asghar Ashari, also reported on measures taken by the council.
Ashari noted that Iranian expatriates who have made breakthroughs abroad will be honored in the Seminar of Iranian Elite Expatriates, which is slated for June 2008.

WASHINGTON,
Sept. 16--US President George W. Bush on Sunday faced a new clash with congressional Democrats over the unpopular war in Iraq as Senate Democrats reportedly reached a deal that would allow soldiers to spend more time at home.
“If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened,“ Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
“Al-Qaeda could find new recruits and new sanctuaries,“ he added, naming the extremist network that he blames, along with Iran, for fueling violence in Iraq, AFP reported.
Meanwhile in Washington, thousands of protestors marched from the White House to Congress Saturday, waving placards demanding an end to the war in Iraq, the return of US troops and the impeachment of Bush.
Organizers said 197 people, including dozens of veterans and activists, were arrested as they crossed police lines. Police put the number of arrests at 189.
Authorities also used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, according to the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, the group that organized the march.
The president announced in a speech on Thursday that the size of the US force in Iraq would decrease by about 21,500 combat troops by mid-2008, with the first 5,700 soldiers leaving Iraq in December.
Most of those soldiers had been scheduled to rotate back to the United States at that time.
Currently 169,000 US troops are in Iraq, up from 130,000 before Bush announced a ’surge’ of US forces in January.
At the Washington protest, which organizers said brought together nearly 100,000 people, one woman carried a picture of her 25-year-old daughter who is on her second tour of duty in Iraq.
“I had a nervous breakdown when they told me her tour was being extended to 15 months,“ she told AFP.
“Now they say it’s probably going to be 18 months.“
Some 3,773 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq and some 27,850 wounded in action since the US-led 2003 invasion.

VIENNA, Austria, Sept. 16--The UN nuclear watchdog opens a general conference of its 144 member-states on Monday, with its chief Mohamed ElBaradei under fire from Western quarters that he is too soft on Iran.
Iran is certain to be a key topic of discussion, with Iranian vice president and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Gholamreza Aqazadeh scheduled to address the gathering of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), AFP reported.
US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Sergei Kiriyenko, director of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency, are also attending.
The criticism of ElBaradei centers on his cutting a deal with Iran for new nuclear inspections.
ElBaradei has been urging more inspections that could lead to talks on ending the crisis.
The director general called for continued dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program which he considered of vital importance to the security in the Middle East.
“We should not add oil to the fire,“ he said.
“We are not yet in a position to declare Iran’s programs are exclusively for peaceful purpose...but we are moving forward,“ he said. Iran has agreed in late August with IAEA to clarify outstanding issues with its nuclear program.
On the other hand, said the IAEA chief, “We have not seen any undeclared nuclear facilities operating ... We have not seen concrete evidence that Iran’s program has been weaponized.“

TEHRAN, Sept. 16--Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said US attempts to halt cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will fail.
Describing current Iran-IAEA cooperation as ’good’, Hosseini told reporters on Sunday that Iran would reconsider its cooperation with IAEA, if any third resolution was issued by the UN Security Council against Iran, IRNA reported.
Asked if Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was about to step down, the spokesman dismissed the report and said Iran’s diplomatic establishment would continue to work as seriously as before.
He added that Mottaki is expected to leave Tehran for New York in the next few days. Hosseini stressed that suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment activities is not negotiable.
Commenting on recent remarks made by Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in an interview with the Arab-language satellite news network, Al-Jazeera, on the timetable of the US troop withdrawal from Iraq, the spokesman said, the withdrawal should take place on the basis of a scheduled plan.
Asked about measures taken by British troops in the Iraqi city of Basra, Hosseini said, “The Iranian officials have been informed in advance of the measures taken for transferring security affairs to the Iraqi forces.“
He noted that Iran would attend the fourth round of talks with the US on Iraq, if requested by Baghdad.
“Iran is still ready for talks in order to help the Iraqi people and government, although we have witnessed no change in US policies,“ he said.
On recent US threats against Iran, Hosseini said, “Washington is not in a position to carry out its threats. In fact, the US threats are not new. We see no grounds for carrying out those threats.“