BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 13. Iran needs an estimated $110-$120 billion in investment over the next four years to increase its crude oil and gas production, Iran's Minister of Oil, Mohsen Paknejad, told reporters, Trend reports.
Paknejad explained that Iran aims to raise its daily crude oil production to 4.6 million barrels over the next four years, which will require an investment of around $50 billion.
He also noted that Iran plans to increase its daily gas production to 1.35 billion cubic meters during the same period, for which an additional $75 billion in investment is necessary.
"Increasing crude oil and gas production involves not only boosting output but also preventing the decline in existing production levels," Paknejad emphasized.
The Iranian minister acknowledged that securing such a large amount of funding would be a challenging task. He stated that mechanisms must be developed to meet the required investment, with part of it coming from the National Development Fund's reserves and the remainder through foreign investment.
Iran's total hydrocarbon reserves are 1.2 trillion barrels. Iran can produce 340 billion barrels with existing technological equipment. Iran can use about 30 percent, and 70 percent remains unutilized underground.
To note, a total of 74 oil fields and 22 gas fields are currently operating in Iran. There are 37 oil fields in the territory of the National Company of Iran's Southern Oil Zones, 14 in the territory of the Iranian Central Oil Zones Company, 5 in the territory of the Arvandan Oil and Gas Production Company, and 18 in the territory of the Offshore Oil Company. Additionally, the South Oil Zones National Company of Iran operates 5 gas fields, the Central Oil Zones Company operates 13, the Pars Oil and Gas Company operates 1, and the Offshore Oil Company operates 3.