Iran plans to recover $100 billion worth of oil reserves

TEHRAN,May 26(MNA) - Increasing the recovery coefficient of existing oil reserves by one percent annually will raise Iran’s worth of reserves by $100 billion by March 2016, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said. The total volume of existing crude oil reserves is estimated at around $700 billion barrels, Qasemi said, adding that just 155 billion barrels of the reserves are recoverable. To attain the goal, some $5 billion should be invested in this field per annum, he noted. Qasemi said previously that the country’s oil output is projected to be increased by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by the next four years. He also added that the daily gas output is planned to rise by 1.47 billion cubic meters. All development plans related to joint oil and gas fields will by finalized by the end of the first half of the current calendar year (September 21), he added. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Iran’s oil output in April was 3.758 million barrels per day (bpd), 182,000 bpd more than its supply in 2011, effectively denying that supply has been impacted by sanctions against Tehran. The country’s oil production has steadily increased in 2012, reaching from 3.576 million bpd in 2011 to 3.758 million bpd in April, which shows 182,000 bpd growth in the mentioned period, the OPEC’s report says. Iran’s oil production stood at 3.742 million bpd in first quarter of 2012, indicating some 133,000 bpd increase in comparison to the output in fourth quarter of 2011.