Iran discovers new large oil field with over 50 billion barrels

Iran has discovered new big oil field with an estimated 53 billion barrels of crude oil in southern province of Khuzestan.

At a ceremony held in Tehran to elaborate on details of discovery of the new oil field, Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh said in the morning of November 11 that that exploratory operation to locate 31 billion barrels crude oil out of total 53 billion barrels of the new field had already been carried out, according to IRNA.

According to him, Iranian oil reserves rose by 22 billion barrels of crude oil after the discovery of the new oil field in the south of the country.

This new oil field named Naamavaran is one of the biggest discovered in Iran, Zangeneh noted.

The field is reportedly located in an area of 2,400 square kilometers and is about 80 meters deep.

Iranian minister further added that the field might be possibly extended to other fields in southwestern and southeastern regions.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press (AP) says that in a speech made in the city of Yazd, Iranian President Hassan said on November 10, “I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil and pressured our nation, the country's dear workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil in a big field.”  

Iran currently has the world's fourth-largest proven deposits of crude oil and the world's second-largest deposits of natural gas. It shares a massive offshore field in the Persian Gulf with Qatar.  The new oil field could become Iran's second-largest field after one containing 65 billion barrels in Ahvaz.

Since the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, the other countries involved — Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — have been struggling to save it. However, they've offered no means by which Iran can sell its oil abroad.

Any company or government that buys Iran's oil faces harsh U.S. sanctions, the threat of which also stopped billions of dollars in business deals an