Oil reserves in Iran

Some 23 hydrocarbon fields lie in border areas and are shared between Iran and adjacent countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

[3] Iranian production peaked at 6 million barrels per day (950×10^3 m3/d) in 1974,[4] but it has been unable to produce at that rate since the 1979 Iranian revolution due to a combination of political unrest, war with Iraq, limited investment, US sanctions, and a high rate of natural decline.

[4] With current technology it is only possible to extract 20% to 25% of the oil in place[4] from Iran's fractured carbonate reservoirs, 10% less than the world average.

[4] It is estimated that 400,000-700,001 bbl/d of crude production is lost annually due to declines in the mature oil fields.

The 2002 NIOC reserve revision came from the following sources:[5] In addition to the large reserves, Iran still has huge potential for new significant gas discoveries: areas like Caspian Sea, North East, Central Kavir and especially areas starting from Aghar and Dalan gas fields in Fars province up to the Strait of Hormuz and Central Persian Gulf have considerable amount of undiscovered gas resources.