Iran has discovered a major oil deposit containing around 26 billion barrels in Gulf waters off Abadan, a senior oil industry official was quoted by state radio as saying Wednesday.
Mehdi Mir-Moezi, deputy managing director of the Iranian National Oil Company, said the oil was found in shallow Iranian-held waters in the Dashteh Abadan zone.
He also announced discovery of a natural gas deposit containing an estimated 40 billion cubic meters (1.4 trillion cubic feet) at Rahormoz, in the province of Khuzestan, which borders Iraq.
Iran is the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries with some 3.8 million barrels a day, but it is producing at almost the limit of its present capacity.
Mir-Moeze said the latest discovery was similar in size to the nearby Azadegan field, where foreign investment in production was authorized by the Iranian parliament on January 21.
Iran is also the world's second-largest producer of natural gas after Russia.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
