04-07-04
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that Iran was
the world-second nation in terms of oil and gas reserves after Saudi Arabia.
"Explored reserves of two large oil and gas fields brought Iran to the
world second place in terms of oil and gas reserves," he told.
He estimated gas reserves near the island of Lavan at 251 bn cm, with the
anticipated revenue of $ 7 bn.
"Yadavaran oil field in southwest Iran, province of Khuzestan, is worth up
to 17 bn barrels of oil, with the anticipated production rate of 300,000 to
400,000 bpd," he added. Yadavaran is now on tender, he said. Invitations
were sent to Total (France), Shell (UK/The Netherlands), and other well-known
companies from China, India, Spain, and Italy. The deadline has not been defined
yet.
Zanganeh did not rule out that American companies could also be invited.
"If the Americans want to engage in the tender for the development of the
field, there is no problem. However, we will not give any information on this
field until we make sure that these companies are free of the US
Administration's embargo on cooperation with Iran," the minister said.
Source: Russian Information Agency Novosti