Iran’s new oil find adds 22bln barrels

Tehran: Iran´s oil minister said on Monday that an oil field whose discovery President Hassan Rouhani announced at the weekend adds only 22.2 billion barrels to the country´s estimated crude reserves.

Out of the amount at the site, only a tenth -- 2.2 billion barrels --- can be extracted due to technological limitations, the minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, told reporters in Tehran. Rouhani on Sunday announced the discovery of a field containing 53 billion barrels of oil in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, saying it was a "small gift by the government to the people of Iran".

The oil minister said the discovery added 22.2 billion barrels to the country´s oil reserves. "Considering that there was already 31 billion barrels of oil (in the region), the in situ amount added is 22.2 billion barrels," he said.