TEHRAN – Iran’s state oil company (NIOC) head of exploration operations Mehdi Fakour says the gas field discovered n the Sea of Oman has an estimated 200 cubic feet (5.66 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas.
Fakour said that the company will release final estimates about the newly-discovered gas field in the Sea of Oman in April.
“Currently, a ship is collecting data in the region and we will be able to declare how much the amount of reserves could increase after initial information and studies are completed in April,” Fakour was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.
Iran currently sits on the second largest gas reserves in the world. The country is also the third largest global producer of natural gas after the United States and Russia with some 1 billion cubic meters per day of output.
Fakour said the National Iranian Oil Company will spend some $1.5 billion on exploration activities in offshore and onshore regions in the next seven years.
He said the company has also discovered a valuable shale oil reserve in western Loresatn province which he said has a very light grade of crude oil.