National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) managing director Ahmad Qalebani said total investments in Iran's oil industry will reach $29 billion by the end of this Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2011) showing a 215 percent increase over a figure a year earlier, Shana reported.
Qalebani said that $11 billion of the investments fell on domestic financial resources and the remaining part ($18 billion) on foreign sources.
According to Qalebani , foreign investment gr ew by 5.5 times this year noting total foreign investment in Iran's oil industry stood at $3.450 billion during the last Iranian calendar year of 1388 (ended in 20 March 2010).
"Currently we are producing 292,000 barrels of oil and 250 million cubic feet of gas from onshore and offshore jointly developed oil and gas fields that are slated to rise to 723,000 barrels of oil and 900 million cubic meters of gas by investing $75 billion over the Fifth Five Year Development Plan, which is to end in 2016," Qalebani said.
Iran is developing 19 oil and gas fields jointly with its neighbors , with 9 onshore fields (eight with Iraq and one with Turkmenistan) and 10 oil and gas fields with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman in the Persian Gulf waters.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), a government-owned corporation under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran, is an oil and natural gas producer and distributor headquartered in Tehran. It was established in 1948. NIOC ranks as the world's second largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco.
According to the Iranian Oil Ministry, Iran's oil and gas recoverable reserves 151 billion barrels and 33.1 trillion cubic meters respectively.