Azerbaijan, Baku, May 20/ Trend F.Milad/
More than 40 oil and gas exploration operations are underway across Iran, official with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohammad-Ali Zadeh-Mohammadi stated.
"Ten drilling rigs are in operation for carrying out exploration," Mohammad-Ali Zadeh-Mohammadi told the Shana News Agency.
The NIOC has developed oil and gas exploration plans, worth $1.4 billion, across the country, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The explorations are projected to be carried out in 12 offshore and 2 onshore blocks, the report added.
The fifth five-year national development plan of Iran, which ends in March 2016, some 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil and 630 billion cubic meters of natural gas should be added to the country's oil and gas reserves.
The NIOC plans to explore five new oil and gas fields in the current calendar year, which began on March 20, the NIOC's Director for Exploration Mahmoud Mohaddes said on April 27.
"Last year, six oil and gas fields were discovered, holding up to 2.87 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves and 847 billion cubic meters of natural gas," Mohaddes added, the ISNA News Agency reported.
Iran ranks the fourth worldwide with 155 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves, next to Venezuela, Saud Arabia and Canada.
On March 3, Mohaddes announced the discovery of a huge oilfield with considerable reserves in southern Iran, which was among the biggest fields discovered in the country.
With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.