Managing Director of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) Saeid Hafezi explained details of the volume of Iranian crude oil and natural gas in the Persian Gulf saying “on the basis of the latest estimates, the in-place volume of Iranian crude reserves in the Persian Gulf is about a hundred billion barrels.”

“The volume of recoverable reserves of Iranian crude oil in the region is about 16 billion barrels,” underlined the official adding “nevertheless, we are seeking to use new technologies in order to increase recovery factor of crude oil from existing reservoirs.”Hafezi stressed that about 7.8 billion barrels of oil has been extracted from the recoverable oil reserves in the Persian Gulf; “about 8.2 billion more barrels are recoverable in the existing oil fields.”

IOOC managing director maintained that the original gas-in-place (OGIP) in the Persian Gulf reaches 187 billion cubic meters except for the South Pars joint field; “currently, the recovery factor of natural gas in the region revolves around 75 per cent.”Hafezi recalled that about $ 20 billion of investment is required in order to increase production capacity of crude oil and natural gas in the Persian Gulf except for the South Pars field reiterating “the main investment opportunities in the oil and gas industry of the region include development of Soroush, Norouz, Abuzar, Doroud as well as Hengam fields.”