Iran has announced the discovery of 15 billion barrels of new in-situ oil reserves, said the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Around two billion barrels of the newly-discovered reserves were recoverable, Ali Kardor was quoted as saying in the Iran Daily report, which cited Press TV.

Kardor added that about 1.8 trillion cu m (tcm) of in-situ reserves of natural gas — around half of which he said were recoverable — had also been discovered.  

Meanwhile, NIOC director for Corporate Planning Affairs Karim Zobeidi said the overall volume of Iran's oil reserves stood at 771.53 billion barrels, of which around 102 billion barrels would be recoverable at a rate of 24.6 per cent.

Zobeidi added that Iran's in-place reserves of natural gas stand at 55 tcm, of which 33 tcm could be recovered at a rate of around 70 per cent.

Kardor also said that Iran's production of high-quality oil would reach four million barrels per day (mbd) before April.