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Iran oil reserves to last 60 years, gas reserves 200 years

Oil&Gas Materials 20 August 2014 15:34 (UTC +04:00)

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 20

By Milad Fashtami - Trend:

Iran's oil reserves will last for another 60 years, according to Bahmani Soleimani, deputy director for exploration affairs at National Iranian Oil Company.

Bahmani also said that the country's gas reserves will also last for another 200 years, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Aug. 20.

"Iran is the world's top country in term of success rate of exploration," he said, adding that the success rate of Iran's explorations is around 70 percent.

"Iran even registered the unprecedented rate of 90 percent in the Iranian calendar year of 1391 (which ended March 20, 2013)," Bahmani added.

The official went on to note that Iran has secured 95 percent of the successful explorations predicted in the Fifth Five-year Socio Economic Development Plan (2011-2015).

According to the Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 2014, Iran has an estimated 157 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves, representing nearly 10% of the world's crude oil reserves and 13% of reserves held by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

About 70% of Iran's crude oil reserves are located onshore, with the remainder mostly located offshore in the Persian Gulf.

Iran also has proved and probable oil reserves of approximately 500 million barrels mostly offshore in the Caspian Sea, but exploration and development of these reserves have been at a standstill because of territorial disputes with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Iran also shares a number of both onshore and offshore fields with neighboring countries, including Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

Most of Iran's reserves were discovered decades ago. According to a report by Clyde & Company, roughly 80% of Iran's reserves were discovered before 1965. Iran is also the second-largest proved natural gas reserve holder in the world.

According to Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 2014, Iran's estimated proved natural gas reserves were 1,193 trillion cubic feet, second only to Russia.

Iran holds 17% of the world's proved natural gas reserves and more than one-third of OPEC's reserves.

Iran has a high success rate of natural gas exploration, in terms of wildcat drilling, which is estimated at 79 percent compared to the world average success rate of 30 percent to 35 percent, according to FGE.

Iran's largest gas field is South Pars, a non-associated gas field located offshore in the middle of the Persian Gulf. South Pars is a portion of a larger gas structure that straddles the territorial water borders of Iran and Qatar. It is called the North field in Qatar. South Pars reserves account for roughly 40 percent of Iran's total gas reserves, and the field is also estimated to hold 17 million barrels of condensate in place.

Other major gas fields in Iran include: Kish, North Pars, Tabnak, Forouz, and Kangan. These fields and others also hold large amounts of condensate reserves. Iran is also estimated to hold 2 trillion cubic feet of proved and probable natural gas reserves onshore and offshore in the Caspian basin.

Although finding new natural gas reserves is not a high priority because much of Iran's current reserves are undeveloped, there have been significant gas discoveries in recent years.

In 2011, four sizeable new discoveries were announced: Khayyam (onshore), Forouz B (offshore in Persian Gulf), Madar (offshore in the Persian Gulf), and Sardare Jangal fields (offshore in Caspian Sea).

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