Iran finds huge gas field in Caspian Sea

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 11 / Trend F.Milad/

Iran discovered a news gas field in the Caspian Sea with at least 50 trillion cubic feet (some 1.4 trillion cubic meters) of reserve, the National Iranian Oil Company reported.

Currently the program is prepared for the start of gas production.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi said that the deposit is located at a depth of 700 meters, SHANA reported. He stressed that despite the fact that it is near the borders of Iran, the deposit does not go beyond them.

According to Ghasemi, natural gas, which will be extracted from this field by some of the properties will exceed the gas from the field of South Pars. The Minister noted that the gas produced here will not only be used in the domestic market but also exported.

With around 900 billion cubic meters increase in the past two years, Iran in-situ natural gas reserves has surged to 34 trillion cubic meters, an official with Iran's Oil Ministry said in November.

Mohsen Khojaste-Mehr told the Mehr news agency that extensive operations are underway to explore new gas deposits across the country which will probably increase the country's proven gas reserves.

Iran produced about 138.5 billion cubic meters of gas last year.

Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia.