Welcome to another episode of the Iranian Market. In this edition of the program, we’re going to discuss Iran’s natural gas reserves.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia. Iran’s Petroleum Ministry says the proved natural gas reserves of the country are about 3 trillion cubic meters or about 17.8% of world's total reserves.

Statistics also say, of the said figure, 33% are as associated gas and 67% is non-associated gas fields.

Iran is one of the most hydrocarbon-rich areas in the world. According to statistics, since Iran’s first oil

well in 1908, 145 hydrocarbon fields and 297 oil and gas reservoirs have been discovered in this country.

A total of 102 fields are oil and the remaining 43 are gas, and there are 205 oil reservoirs and 92 natural gas reservoirs. 

According to Iran Energy Balance Sheet in 2009, 78 of these fields are currently active with 62 onshore and 16 offshore, leaving 67 fields inactive at present. Some 23 hydrocarbon fields lie in border areas and are shared between Iran and adjacent countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has still huge potential for new significant gas discoveries. Areas such as Caspian Sea, North East, Central Kavir and especially areas starting from Aghar and Dalan gas fields in Fars province up to the Strait of Hormoz and Central Persian Gulf have considerable potential for undiscovered gas.

According to Exploration Directorate of National Iranian Oil Company, NIOC, there are about 150 unexplored anticlines in Iran.

Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the largest proven oil and gas reserves in the world. The country is ranked among top 10 and five main oil and gas producing countries in the world respectively.

Iran produced about 7.2 trillion cubic meter dry natural gas per day in 2017, showing a considerable hike.

Consignments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is also transferred through Hormuz Strait in such a way that about 3.7 trillion cubic meter LNG, produced in Qatar in 2016, was exported to the world countries via Hormuz Strait.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iranian government obtained over $33.6 billion revenues from exporting oil and natural gas in 2015- 2016 fiscal year.

AE/ME