The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; ) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. NIOC was established in 1951 and restructured under The Consortium Agreement of 1954.[4] NIOC ranks as the world's second largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco.[5]
The NIOC is exclusively responsible for the exploration, drilling, production, distribution and export of crude oil, as well as exploration, extraction and sales of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). NIOC exports its surplus production according to commercial considerations determined by the OPEC and at the prices prevalent in the international markets. In early 2015 NIOC's recoverable liquid hydrocarbon reserves was 156.53 Goilbbl (10% of world's total) and recoverable gas reserves were 33.79 m3 (15% of world's total). As of 2012, the NIOC production capacity included over 4 Moilbbl of crude oil and in excess of 750 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.[4]