Iran's recoverable oil reserves are estimated to be 100 billion barrels, of which 30% can be extracted, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“As long as we do not take advantage of improved oil recovery technologies, the average rate of recovery from oilfields will not exceed the current 30%,” Mohsen Khojastehmehr was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
According to the official, Iran's in-place oil reserves are estimated at 1,200 billion barrels.
"There are 184 hydrocarbon fields in the country, consisting of 400 reserves, 171 of which are either developed or being developing with 230 deposits yet to be tapped into," he said.
"The recovery rate in Iran is 10% lower than the global average and as long as it does not reach the optimum level, the neighboring states will grab the lion's share of the revenue from the fields, especially the joint ones."
The NIOC chief said it is highly likely that the country's oil recovery rate can increase by 5% to 15% with the help of modern enhanced oil recovery and domestic researchers can play a major role in this regard.
Khojastehmehr noted that 60 years ago, 90% of Iran’s oil were extracted from seven reservoirs and it was possible to pump 30,000 barrels of crude oil from one well per day, whereas to extract the same amount of oil now more than 15 wells are needed to be dug.
According to Karim Zobeidi, the head of NIOC’s department that oversees reservoirs, the Asmari formation, a major oil reservoir in Iran mainly composed of carbonate entities, produces almost 50% of total Iranian crude oil.
The reserve contains 300 billion barrels of crude, 50 billion of which are recoverable. The average recovery rate from this layer is 37%.
Referring to Bangestan reservoirs whose average recover rate is as low as 15%, he noted that although the layer accounts for 280 billion barrels of the country's in-place oil reserves, only 33 billion can be extracted.
He added that Khami hydrocarbon layer contains 126.5 billion barrels and its recovery rate amounts to 17.15%.
Energy experts, including Zobeidi, believe that raising the recovery rate by merely 1% is equivalent to increasing production by 7 billion barrels, which would generate $315 billion at a rate of $45 for each barrel of oil.
