
The head of exploration for the National Iranian Oil Company has announced the discovery of unconventional oil and gas sources.
Hormoz Ghalavand commented on the location of these unconventional reserves, saying: “This region is located in Lorestan and it will take about a year and a half to determine the actual volume of these reserves.
Ghalavand also reported the discovery of gas hydrates in the Sea of Oman. He added that in the past year, 1.891 billion barrels of oil and 150 undeveloped oil and gas reserves have been discovered.
He said: “Before, Iran ranked fourth in the world in terms of its oil reserves and, with regard to gas resources, it was second only to Russia. However, its global ranking has now gone up.”
He said Iran’s oil reserves now rank it third in the world following Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
He pointed out, however, that there will be a long process for reaching full exploitation of the newly discovered reserves, adding that Iran will enter into agreements with foreign companies to do so.