Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.19/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Iran has discovered a new hydrocarbon layer in southern part of the country which contains huge amounts of light crude oil, the Fars News Agency quoted National Iranian Oil Company official Hormoz Qalavand as saying.
The crude oil has the API gravity degree of 56, he noted.
Preliminary studies show that 26 million cubic feet of gas can be extracted per day from oil wells in the region, he added.
Some 1.891 billion barrels of oil and 388 billion cubic feet of natural gas were discovered in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, he said.
Iran has announced that it will implement 11 plans by the Iranian calendar month of Mordad 1392 (July 22-August 22, 2013) with the goal of boosting oil production by 175,000 barrels per day.
Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has recently said that the country's oil output is projected to increase by 1.5 million barrels per day by 2016.
In November 2012, Iranian Offshore Oil Company Managing Director Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said that Iran's National Development Fund (NDF) has allocated $1.5 billion for developing the country's oilfields in the Persian Gulf.
According to an Iranian law, 37.5 percent of oil revenue is deposited into the NDF and is then channeled into the development of oil and gas fields and 62.5 percent of oil revenue is allocated for national budget expenditures.
Iran has the world's fourth-largest reserves of recoverable oil, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.