Iran may increase oil reserves again and sees international sanctions as an opportunity for local companies, the country's oil minister said Thursday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Masoud Mirkazemi said: "Probably this number [oil reserves] will be increased."

The minister said sanctions placed on Iran weren't having an impact on the country's oil hydrocarbons production.

The absence of western companies in Iran 's oil and gas industry "was an opportunity for our own banks and companies to find themselves. Absorbing investment is not a problem," he said.

Mirkazemi said Iran was no longer importing gasoline and was even exporting it at the moment.

"We are not buying [gasoline], we're even exporting," he said.

The sector was put under new U.S. sanctions this summer but Iran has reacted by increasing production capacity, including by temporarily converting petrochemicals plants into refineries.

Monday, Iran announced its proven oil reserves had risen by 9% to 150.31 billion barrels, partly driven by new discoveries, days after Iraq announced a similar upgrade.

But Mirkazemi said that "we will produce whatever is required."

The increase in reserves "doesn't mean that whatever is explored will be exported," he said.
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