Iran says it found new gas field

TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Iran's Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said a new natural gas field worth an estimated $50 billion has been discovered in southern Iran.

In a press conference Sunday, Mirkazemi said the new Khayyam gas field was discovered in the port city Assaluyeh, the government-supported Press TV reported.

The minister predicted that officials will be able to extract some 847.5 million cubic feet (24 million cubic meters) of gas daily in 18 rigs, the report said.

Iran discovered 13 new oil and gas fields with "in-place reserves of 14 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas" between August 2009 and August 2010, Iran's Oil Ministry said in August, the report said.

Mahmoud Mohaddes, exploration director of the country's National Iranian Oil Company revealed last year a five-year plan to search for new oil and gas reserves in the country. Since the plan began in 2005, 19 new oil fields and 8 new natural gas reserves had been found, he said.

Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, the television report said.