Iraq's oil minister on Monday boosted the estimate of his country's proven oil reserves to 143.1 billion barrels, an almost 25 per cent rise that transforms the nation into the home of the world's second-largest proven reserves of conventional crude oil. The new figure reflects reserves "that can be extracted by available techniques in the country," Hussain al-Shahristani said according to the AP., He added that this total is based on reserves in 66 oil fields.
Iraq currently exports 1.9 million to 2 million barrels per day — which accounts for nearly all its foreign currency revenues.
According to Al-Shahristani, West Qurna had reserves of 43.302 billion barrels, making it the world's second-largest field. The minister conveyed that the actual reserves were upward of 176 billion, but that 33.5 billion barrels had so far been extracted over the past decades, leaving the country with 143.1 billion in proven reserves.
