Iran announces 53 billion barrel oil find

The find would boost the country’s existing reserves of 150 billion barrel by a third

Iran claims to have discovered a new oilfield containing around 53 billion barrels of crude oil.

President Hassan Rouhani announced the field was located in the country’s southern Khuzestan province, where much of its oil industry is located.

The find would boost the country’s existing reserves of 150 billion barrel by a third and would likely become Iran’s second-largest field, after a field containing 65 billion barrels in Ahvaz.

The field is said to cover an area of 2,400 square kilometres, with the deposit around 80 metres deep underground.

Mr Rouhani reportedly told the Fars news agency: “I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil, the country’s workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil.”

Norwegian energy giant Equinor and its partners found oil and gas of up to 100 million barrels in the North Sea earlier this month.

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