TEHRAN, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- In the wake of an ambitious domestic agenda, Iran found an oil field and a natural gas field in the western and southern provinces respectively, officials said.
Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir Kazemi said explorers assessed the Soumar oil field in the western province of Kermanshah and the Halgan gas field in southern Fars province, the Mehr News Agency reports.
Kazemi said the Soumar field holds an estimated 70 million barrels of recoverable reserves with the Halgan gas field boasting a capacity of around 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas.
Tehran in January announced plans to increase its oil output to more than 5 million barrels per day under a five-year national plan. Iran would need to develop 15 oil fields to reach that goal, however.
Tehran called on the Oil Ministry to issue $11.1 billion in bonds to help finance energy projects in the country. The initiative is part of the budget bill presented by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in January for the upcoming Iranian year, which begins March 21.
