Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi has said that oil reserves of up to six billion barrels have been discovered around the Yadavaran oilfield in Khuzestan province in southwest Iran
"With this new discovery the volume of retrievable oil reserves in the country increased five to six billion barrels," said Qasemi.
In March this year, a large oilfield with high-quality crude was discovered in Khuzestan.
Qasemi said that the newly discovered oil field is located near the Yadavaran oil field, 70km southeast of Ahwaz city in the oil-rich Khuzestan province, near the Iraq border.
In November, Qasemi had announced that the country's recoverable oil reserves had risen from 151 billion barrels to 154.8 billion barrels, adding that there are plenty of unexplored hydrocarbon reserves in the country. He added that the volume of the newly discovered oil reserve is more than what was earlier forecasted.
The minister said that the Yadavaran oil field would be developed in three phases, and added that early production would start at 20,000 barrels per day (bpd). Once the first and the second development phases have been completed, oil extraction from Yadavaran oil field will reach 200,000 bpd, he added.
The country's oil and natural gas reserves will last up to 80 and 150 years respectively, if the current production and export levels remain steady.
