Iranian gas export revenues surged by more than 250% in the year to March, while earnings from petrochemical exports doubled, Oil Minister Javad Owji said, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

He said overall energy export earnings, including crude, rose by 2.5 times but he only gave a breakdown for gas and petrochemicals. Iran does not release figures related to oil exports.

The increase in revenue was partly due to more exports and because Iran managed to collect more of the proceeds from exports in spite of U.S. sanctions, the minister said.

"Through various methods, our government has collected all the revenues from its exports of oil, gas, gas condensate and oil products," Owji said.

Gas export revenues rose to $4.6 B from $1.27 B last year, and revenues from petrochemical products exports doubled to $12 B, the minister said.