Iran finds new gas field, says ‘one of the biggest’ in region
A huge banner bearing portraits of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and his predecessor, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (R), is seen on a building being constructed at phase 15 and 16 of South Pars gas field development in the southern Iranian port town of Asaluyeh on July 19, 2010.
Iranian oil officials today said “one of the biggest natural gas fields in the Middle East" had been discovered in the country's southwest, Bloomberg reported.
Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, quoting National Iranian Oil Company director Seyyed Mahmoud Mohaddes, said the reserves had been discovered in Khuzestan province and are believed comparable in size to the enormous South Pars field shared by Iran and Qatar.
South Pars is the world's largest gas reserve, believed to hold some 1,800 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to China's Xinhua.
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Mohaddes said a 5,000-meter well will be drilled in the new field to collect more information, according to Mehr.
The Islamic Republic is home to the largest proven gas reserves in Europe and Eurasia, according to BP's 2011 Statistical Review of World Energy.
However, the country lacks the necessary refining capabilities to meet demand, forcing the energy-rich nation to import as much as 40% of its gasoline, according to the Middle East's 2011 Oil & Gas Directory.