Iran has discovered a new oilfield with 53 billion barrels of crude oil, President Hassan Rouhani has said, a find that could boost the country's proven 150 billion barrel reserves by a third, Al Jazeera reports.
Speaking live on state television from the central city of Yazd, Rouhani said on Sunday the field was located in the country's southern Khuzestan province, home to its crucial oil industry.
"I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil, the country's workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil," he said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Oil reserves refer to crude that is economically feasible to extract. Figures can vary wildly by country due to differing standards, though it remains a yardstick of comparison among oil-producing nations.
