Agha Jari, and Bibi Hakimeh fields alone account for about two-thirds of Iran's oil production. Most of Iran's crude oil is low in sulphur, with gravities in the 30¦-39¦ API range (Feld 1-18).
In October 1999, Iran announced the discovery of its largest oil field in 30 years. The onshore field was named Azadegan and is located in the Southwestern province of Khuzestan. According to Iran's Oil Minister Zanganeh, the Azadegan field could contain 26 billion barrels of oil, with potential production of 400,000 bbl/d (Feld 11).
Since 1995, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has made several large oil discoveries. These discoveries include the 2.5-billion-barrel Darkhovin field, located offshore Abadan (on the Persian Gulf). The field contains low sulphur, 39¦ API crude oil. NIOC aims for initial production from Darkhovin of 30,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), with a second phase peak of 60,000 bbl/d (Feld 14).
The ecological risk in Iran is further complicated by the fact that the country considers itself to be a natural (geographically and economically) transit route for oil and gas exports from the landlocked Central Asian countries to world markets. This vision is complicated, however, by political considerations, particularly the United States policy opposing pipelines through Iran (the United States has made the construction of an oil pipeline from Baku, Azerbaijan to Ceyhan, Turkey the centerpiece of its Caspian policy). In November 1999, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan signed two multi-billion-dollar agreements regarding development of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Turkey and Georgia largely are lackeys of the United States (Reed 66).
Iran's largest non-associated natural gas field is South Pars, geologically an extension of Qatar's 241-Tcf North Field. South Pars was first identified in 1988 and originally appraised at 128 Tcf in the early 1990s. NIOC-sponsored studies conducted in mid-1996...