BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Shale oil has been discovered in 10 places in Iran, and the presence of oil in these places has been confirmed, the head of the Exploration Department of Iran's National Oil Company, Mehdi Fakoor said in Trend reports.
According to Fakoor, shale oil reserves are concentrated in Lorestan province, located in western Iran. For example, a semi-industrial shale oil discovery factory has been developed in the Gale Koor district of this province.
Fakoor added that Iran has invented a new technology for extracting shale oil. This approach makes shale oil extraction more cost-effective.
He also stated that each barrel of crude oil produced using this approach would cost approximately $25. However, it now costs approximately $40 to produce one barrel of shale oil in the United States.
The official stated that a plan has been developed to use the shale oil production method.
He said that during the last Iranian year (from March 21, 2023, through March 19, 2024), more than 2.5 billion barrels were added to Iran's crude oil and natural gas reserves.
To note, Iran's total hydrocarbon reserves amount to 1.2 trillion barrels. Iran can produce 340 billion barrels of this gas with existing technological equipment. Iran can use about 30 percent of it, while 70 percent remains unused underground.
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