In an address to the Iranian Majlis (parliament) on Sunday, Rostam Qasemi said Iran has 17 percent of the world’s gas reserves and 11 percent of its oil resources.
“The Middle East holds 55 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 40 percent of its gas resources and Iran has 600 thousand billion barrels of in-place oil reserves, 155 billion barrels of which is extractable,” he said.
He added that Iran's gas resources amount to 34 trillion cubic meters, ranking it second in the world.
Qasemi said the Islamic Republic also has “the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world” with its 366 billion barrels of crude oil.
Discovery operations are one of the priorities of the Oil Ministry, Qasemi stressed, adding that so far 197 fields and 337 oil and gas reservoirs have been discovered in the country.
press tv/281
