“The value of discovered crude oil reserves in Caspian is over 50 billion dollars,” Ahmad Qalehbani said. He said some 3 trillion rials (around $245 million) has been invested in exploration operations in the Caspian Sea. “Exploring crude oil in the Caspian Sea has proved sanctions against the country’s oil sector to be ineffective,” he said. The new oil reserves were discovered by the Amir Kabir semi-submersible drilling rig in the course of exploration operations at the Sardar Jangal gas field on May 10. Iran announced in December 2011 that it had discovered a large field in the Caspian Sea containing at least 50 trillion cubic feet (some 1.4 trillion cubic meters) of gas. The field, in waters 700 meters deep, lies wholly within Iran’s territorial waters, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi explained at the time. He added that Iran has 11 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves in the Caspian Sea. Qasemi also announced that Iran is now the sole country in the region that has found access to the technology to drill wells in deep waters.
The in-situ reserves of crude oil in Iran’s Sardar Jangal gas field, located under Caspian Sea, are worth over $50 billion, the National Iranian Oil Company managing director announced .
News ID 182161
