Tehran - Iran discovered a new oilfield with significant in-place crude reserves, Mahmoud Mohaddes the director for exploration of the National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) said.
The official added that further details of the discovery will soon be announced.
Mohaddes told reporters in January that Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi would soon disclose the details of a newly-discovered gas field.
'Before the end of the current [Iranian] year (to end on March 19th), based on our earlier promise, we will also announce the details about the discovery of two new oilfields. On the whole, definite exploration operations have been carried out on five oilfields in addition to Khayyam oilfield and Madar gas field,' he added.
The Exploration Department of NIOC channeled 435 dlrs million to exploration projects during the current year. A total of 420 dlrs million were also allocated for the same purpose last year.
The NIOC's Exploration Department recently signed a contract for exploration and development of Farzad A gas field with Petropars Company.
A report published in August 2010 by Iran's Oil Ministry revealed the discovery of 13 new oil and gas fields with in-place reserves of 14 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas between August 2009 and August 2010.
In June 2011, Iran discovered Khayyam gas field with in-place reserves of 277 billion cubic meters of natural gas in Assalouyeh, Bushehr Province.
Managing Director of NIOC Ahmad Qale'bani announced the discovery of Madar Gas Field in eastern Assalouyeh with reserves of about 495 billion cubic meters in August 2011.
Iran shares oil and gas fields with most of its neighbors, including Iraq, Kuwait and Persian Gulf littoral countries, Qatar and Oman.
The country is OPEC's second largest oil producer and the fourth crude oil exporter.
In recent years, Iran has gradually been moving towards becoming a major exporter of refined oil and petrochemical products with significant success.
Earlier, Qassemi said the country's oil has been sold four months in advance and the Islamic Republic will face no problems even if European sanctions are imposed. 'I think it unlikely that global oil markets would ignore Iran's oil because this would create problems for them.'
© IRNA 2012
