War-torn Iraq on Monday reported a sharp increase in its oil reserves to claim second position globally in terms of reserve strength.
Iraq's oil reserves are now 143.1 billion barrels, Iraq Oil Report said quoting Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani.
“We got these numbers from news studies in Iraq and from the international oil companies (IOCs),” Shahristani said. “And we could say that the most that we got is from what the IOCs provided us, which they were already asked to do such work.”
The current level reflected a 25 percent increase from its previous level of 115 billion barrels, said the report.
With the new levels the country overtakes Iran to possess second largest oil reserves globally behind Saudi Arabia on paper, the report states.
As of now, Iraq has 66 oil fields with seven supergiant fields with more than 70 percent of the reserves situated in south of the country, he added.
Shahristani further added that three quarters of new oil reserves came from an oilfield in West Qurna which is being developed by two consortia- ExxonMobil and Lukoil.
According to the oil ministry, West Qurna oilfield reserves rose to 43 billion barrels from U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA)’s previous estimate of 21.5 billion barrels, to emerge as the second biggest oilfield in the world.
“The gains that have been achieved from the initial work on West Qurna have been enormous,” said the report quoting Brad Phillips, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
The new reserves augur well for the country as the oil investors have become nervous in the wake of political crisis.
Currently, war-battered Iraq is involved in modernizing its infrastructure to boost economic growth as 95 percent of revenue to the government comes from crude oil exports.
