China Iran's oil minister said the new oil reserves were 22.2 billion barrels, nearly half of what President Rouhani announced earlier.

The corrected figure for oil field reserves was released today by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh at a news conference in Tehran. Zanganeh said the newly discovered oil field only added 22.2 billion barrels to the country's estimated oil reserves, of which the ability to exploit only 1/10, or 2.2 billion barrels, due to limitations. about technology.

A day earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that he had discovered a new oil field containing 53 billion barrels of crude oil in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. The new oil field is 2,400 km2 wide and 80 m deep.

Iran is a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It is also the fourth largest oil reserves and the second largest gas reserves in the world. Multinational oil company BP estimates that Iran's current reserves are 155.6 billion barrels of crude oil.

However, Tehran has struggled with oil exports since US President Donald Trump last year announced it was withdrawing from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement (JCOPA) and imposing sanctions. The US wants to tighten Iran's oil exports to pressure it to negotiate a new deal.

Location of Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran, where new oil field was discovered. Graphics: BBC.