Iran discovers shale reserves

DUBAI: Iran has found shale oil reserves of 2 billion barrels of light crude in its western Lorestan province, a senior official at the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was quoted as saying on Saturday.
“Based on studies, it is estimated that the shale oil reserves in Ghali Koh in Lorestan amount to 2 billion barrels of oil in place,” Bahman Soleimani, NIOC’s deputy director for exploration, told the semi-official news agency Tasnim. “The oil is light.”
Soleimani said exploration was also being carried out for shale gas reserves in the area.
Iran’s proven oil reserves of about 160 billion barrels, almost 10 percent of the world’s total, rank it fourth among petroleum-rich countries.
Increase in output
Iran expects its oil production to reach 4 million barrels per day by mid-April, a month later than planned, the head of NIOC was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Iran said in January its daily output was close to 3.9 million barrels.
“We were due to reach 4 million barrels …by the end of the (Iranian) year (March 20). This will be realized with a one-month delay,” said Ali Kardor, quoted by the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).
Kardor said that Iran had been trying to reach 4.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for the past seven to eight years without success.
“Of course, Iran’s crude oil production reached 4.2 million barrels at a certain stage, but later fell,” he added, without giving further details.
Under a deal agreed to cut production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in December, Iran was allowed to boost output slightly from its October level. Tehran has long argued it needs to regain market share lost under Western sanctions.