Tehran, Iran, January 20
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
Recent studies show that there are considerable reservoirs of sweet gas in the lower and deeper layers of some fields next to the South Pars, Mohammad Reza Kamali, director of the Upstream Campus at Iran's Oil Industry Research Center said.
He said the finding comes as part of an extensive exploration operation called the Pearl of the Persian Gulf that covers 138 square kilometers stretching from the west of the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
He added the operation also provides full geological, geo-chemical and petroleum engineering information about the whole oil fields as well as 970 wells in the region.
National Iranian Oil Company CEO Roknoddin Javadi also recently said new reserves of gas and oil have been discovered, adding the extractable amount will be announced soon.
According to the Iran Petroleum Ministry, the proved natural gas reserves of Iran are about 1,046 trillion cubic feet (29.6 trillion cubic meters) or about 15.8% of world's total reserves, of which 33% are as associated gas and 67% is in non-associated gas fields. It has the world's second largest reserves after Russia.
In its most recent report, BP said Iran is in possession of 157 billion barrels of oil reserves, equal to 9.3 percent of the whole world's. It added Iran holds 19.4 percent of the Mideast's crude reserves and comes fourth in world ranking.