TEHRAN – The first shale oil reserve containing over 2 billion barrels of light crude has been discovered in Iran.

The shale deposit is situated in the western province of Lorestan, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday quoting an oil official as saying.

Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations.
 
“According to preliminary studies, this huge reserve is estimated to hold more than 2 billion barrels of in-situ light crude oil,” Bahman Soleimani, the deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Company’s exploration department, said.

Studying probable gas shale reserves in the mentioned area is also underway with 80 percent overall progress and is projected to be completed in October, he added.

According to an assessment of world shale oil and shale gas resources released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in September 2015, 46 countries around the world possess deposits of shale oil and shale gas. The assessment put the unproved technically recoverable deposits of shale oil at 418.9 billion barrels and those of shale gas at 7,576.6 trillion cubic feet in these countries.

EF/MA/MG