NIOC Chief: Hydrocarbon Reserves Equal to 340bn Barrels of Oil

Date: 14 August 2023 - 21:45

News ID: ۱۱۸۲۶۲

TEHRAN - CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr has said that the coujtry’s total hydrocarbon reserves amount to the equivalent of 340 billion barrels of crude oil, making the country the largest holder of combined oil and gas reserves in the world, according to
Khojasteh Mehr said that Iran has a total of 400 oil and gas reserves with some 230 drilling rigs, or platforms, operating in the country’s offshore oil and gas fields, adding that the country operates some 13,000 kilometers of undersea oil and gas pipelines.
Khojasteh Mehr disclosed the figures in a meeting with Iranian civil defense officials in Tehran as he warned about rising demand for energy in Iran and the vulnerabilities that the country could face in the coming years because of excessive consumption of natural gas and oil products.
He said Iran is consuming the equivalent of 7 million barrels per day of crude oil, adding that the country depends on oil and gas for 99.5% of its energy needs.
Experts say each 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas is equal to 7 million barrels of crude oil. Iran is already producing just over 1 bcm per day of gas which is mostly used by households for heating or cooking or by power plants for generation of electricity.
Khojasteh Mehr, who also serves as a deputy oil minister, said the government had introduced $18 billion worth of renovation and repair projects in its oil and gas sector to reduce risks that could be posed to the country’s production and distribution systems because of aging facilities.