Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.26/ Trend, F. Karimov/
The National Iranian Oil Company has announced that there have been great oil and gas reserves discoveries across the country during the past Iranian calendar year (March 2012-March 2013) worth $552.5 billion, IRNA reported.
According to the report, some $229 million was invested in oil and gas exploration projects.
Last year, 1,891 million barrels of crude oil and 388 billion cubic feet of natural gas were discovered.
In May, Hormoz Qalavand the head of exploration at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced that Iran had allocated 5.5 trillion rials (about $450 million) to oil and gas exploration projects for that Iranian calendar year.
According to a proposed plan, up to 400 million barrels of crude oil and 125 billion cubic meters of natural gas would be explored by the end of the year, IRNA quoted Qalavand as saying.
Exploration operations are being conducted mainly in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the country, he noted.
"As part of a new government policy to boost energy production, we are currently investing $100 billion in new oil and gas exploration and production," he added.
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