Iran’s natural gas deposits will last up to 100 years

TEHRAN,Nov.5(MNA) - An official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) stated that Iran’s natural gas reserves will last up to 100 years. However, Iran’s crude oil reserves will end by the next 50 years, Mohammad-Ali Emadi, the NIOC research and technological director, told . Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and is trying to grow its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field. The field has 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas (about eight percent of the world's reserves) and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) resources. Emadi said according to the fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015), Iran’s gas production capacity should increase by 250 million cubic meters per day. The NIOC official also said the country’s oil output would rise by one million barrels per day by 2015. The official went on to say that the country’s oil deposits are recoverable by 29 percent on the average. Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi announced Iran’s recoverable oil reserves stand at 154.8 billion barrels. The new explorations have increased the amount from the previous figure of 151 billion barrels,Qasemi said. Iran’s oil reserves stand at 158 billion barrels.a report said, signaling a slight rise in the Islamic Republic’s estimate. Last October Iran upped its reserves figure to 150.31 billion barrels from a previous estimate of 138 billion barrels in response to neighbor Iraq increasing its estimate. The report did not say how the further increase had been calculated but quoted Qasemi as saying his plan to concentrate on extracting crude from fields shared with other countries would boost production. “By the end of the fifth development plan, the country’s oil production must increase to 5.2 million barrels per day (bpd) and this should happen from the country’s joint fields,” Qasemi said. Officials have put Iran’s current output at between 3.6 million and 4 million bpd. Hormoz Qalavand, head of the National Iranian Southern Oil Company, told that Iran’s oil production is 3.92 million bpd.