TEHRAN – A new gas field with 13,000 billion cubic feet of recoverable reserve and 385 million barrels of condensate, valued at $40 billion, has been discovered in Fars province, southern Iran.

The field, called “Eram”, is located in southern Fars province, Reza Dehqan, the National Iranian Oil Company’s deputy director for development and engineering affairs said, IRNA reported on Sunday.

The gas recovered from the field is planned to be delivered to Parsian Gas Refinery in the province due to its close proximity to the field, he noted.

Referring to the numerous oil and gas field discoveries since the 1979 revolution, Dehqan said that 75 percent of the country’s gas reserves as well as 20 percent of its oil reserves have been discovered in the past 40 years.

“With 159 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and 34 billion cubic meters of gas reserves, Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves and also the world’s fourth largest oil reserves,” he said.

The official noted that Iran is currently self-sufficient in oil and gas exploration and all the country’s projects in this area are being carried out by domestic companies.

Earlier this week, Saleh Hendi, NIOC’s director for exploration, had announced that the company has had very good achievements in the field of oil and gas exploration, so that now Iran ranks first in terms of oil and gas reserves.

The official also said that plans were underway for beginning new exploration operations in the northeast of the country.

EF/MA/MG