TEHRAN, Nov 11 (NNN-IRNA) – A new oil field that would increase Iran’s proven reserves by about a third has been discovered, President Hassan Rouhani, said.
The field, in the south-western province of Khuzestan and about 2,400 sq km (926 sq miles) in area, contains 53 billion barrels of crude, he said.
Iran has been struggling to sell oil abroad because of tough US sanctions. They were imposed after the US pulled out of a nuclear deal with world powers.
“We have found an oil field with 53 billion barrels of oil in place… 53 billion barrels. This is in a big oil field that stretches 2,400 sq km from Bostan to Omidiyeh. The oil layer has a depth of 80 m (262 ft),” he said.
Iran’s oil revenues will increase by $32bn (£25bn) “if extraction rate from the oil field increases only 1%.”
“I am telling the White House that, when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil, the country’s workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil,” he was quoted as saying.
The new field could become Iran’s second largest field, after the one containing 65 billion barrels, in Ahvaz.
Iran is one of the world’s largest oil producers, with exports worth billions of dollars each year.
Its existing proven reserves are some 150 billion barrels, Rouhani said. It has the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves and second-largest gas reserves, and shares a massive offshore field in the Persian Gulf with Qatar.– NNN-IRNA