Iran discovers a new onshore natural gas field

Iran's Oil Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi has announced a new onshore natural gas discovery in the country's southern region. The newly discovered oil field is estimated to hold around 9.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and 7.7 million barrels of gas condensate.

The gas field, east of Assalouyeh, is near the South Pars gas complex, and is thought to contain 80 per cent of recoverable reserves which could equate to as much as 7.4 trillion cubic feet of gas.

"The in-situ capacity of the gas field is 260 billion cubic meters and 80 percent of its reserves can be exploited," said Mir Kazemi.

Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia. Its South Pars field in the Gulf, which it shares with Qatar, holds around 14 trillion cubic metres of gas equal to eight percent of the world's reserves.

In related news, Mir Kazemi held a press conference on Friday 14th January to say that the price of $100 per oil barrel was appropriate and that OPEC did not “need to hold an emergency meeting over the price issue”.

Sources: UPI, Xinhua, AFP, Zawya, Hamsayeh

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran finds major oil layer off the coast of Persian Gulf

Iran has discovered a major oil layer beneath at a natural gas field off the coast of Persian Gulf. Pars Oil and Gas Company's Managing Director Ali Vakili said the company found an oil layer at the Ferdowsi gas field, estimated to contain around 34 billion barrels of oil.

"The new oil layer is regarded as one of the biggest layers in the country and it is located beneath Ferdowsi gas field. We are currently digging an oil rig to complete our assessments," said Vakili in a meeting in Tehran.

He also said the oil layer was one of the largest in the country, uncovered in the South Pars field. Vakili gave no details about the size of the latest discovery, but added that more than half of the gas from South Pars would come on stream by early 2012.

Source: Press TV

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Iran inaugurates 500km pipeline for Turkmen imports

Iran has inaugurated a 500km pipeline to facilitate greater volume of imports from Turkmenistan. The pipeline will also allow a better distribution of gas to domestic consumers across the Islamic Republic.

The pipeline, built at a cost of $550 million, is in the second phase of development and is expected to raise the volume of gas imports from Turkmenistan from 25 million to 40 million cubic metres per day.

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji said that the pipeline will also deliver gas from Iran's South Pars field, in the gulf to northern provinces traditionally served by Turkmen gas, to the northern parts of the country.

Oji noted that northern Iran's reliance on imported gas will dwindle as the country becomes more self sufficient and reliant on domestic supplies. He also added that Iran will continue co-operation with Turkmenistan to raise Iran's share in the world gas trade.

Source: Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.