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TEHRAN: A new oil field in the southwest province of
Khuzestan with in-place reserves of 1.1 billion barrels has been
discovered in Iran, Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said
Sunday.
The field, which is located near
Andimeshk in Khuzestan, holds an estimated reserve of 233 million
barrels of recoverable crude oil, state television quoted Nozari as
saying.
The oil discovered in the new
field is light crude with an API gravity of 33 degrees, the Iranian
oil minister said.
Commenting on current status of
the oil market, he said the situation is good and there is no
shortage on the market.
Iran is the fourth-largest oil
producer in the world and ranks second in output among the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members,
although its ability to reach oil production targets has been
hampered by a lack of international investment.
Iranian officials have said that
the country’s oil reserves were estimated at more than 130 billion
barrels, about 12 percent of global reserves.
Production started in February
from Iran’s biggest onshore oil field, Azadegan, which is
estimated to have 42 billion barrels of crude oil in place.
Iran has recently signed an
agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom to help Tehran develop
its oil and gas fields, days after Total dropped out of a
multibillion-dollar gas deal.
But Western governments have
pressured firms to cut their ties with Iran over the country’s
controversial nuclear program, which world powers fear could be
aimed at seeking atomic weapons—a charge vehemently denied by
Tehran.
The United States, Iran’s arch
enemy, has also been urging global energy giants to cut their ties
with Tehran, saying that doing business sends the wrong message at a
time of growing tensions in the nuclear crisis.
--Xinhua With AFP
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