BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 31
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran currently has about 159 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbon reserves that it can extract, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told IRIB, Trend reports.
According to Zanganeh, whereas before the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979), Iran's liquid hydrocarbon reserves were about 88 billion barrels.
Zanganeh added that Iran has produced, exported and used a total of 35 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbons since 1979.
The minister noted that Iran's gas reserves were about 9 trillion cubic meters before the Islamic Revolution. At present, it has exceeded 33 trillion cubic meters.
“Iran's oil extraction has decreased daily by 4 million barrels after the Islamic Revolution,” he said.
The minister stressed that before the revolution, Iran's extraction was daily 5.5 million barrels, but later fell to 1.8 million barrels.
Iran has 125 oil fields and 59 gas fields. The country's total hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 836 billion barrels. With available technology and equipment, Iran can extract 239 billion barrels. Thus, 29 percent of the country's hydrocarbon reserves are recoverable, while 71 percent remain underground.
As reported, Iran extracts about 2 million barrels of crude oil and 930 million cubic meters of rich gas per day.
