Iran ups oil, natural gas estimates

More than 31 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas reserves have been discovered in Iran in roughly one year, the oil ministry said. The National Iranian Oil Co. announced that more than 830 million barrels of recoverable hydrocarbons and 31.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas were discovered since the March 21 New Year, the Oil Ministry's Petroenergy Information Network reports. Those reserve estimates mean Iran has more than 154.6 billion barrels of oil and 1.2 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, the news service said. The NIOC added that it repaired 140 oil and natural gas wells and drilled to a combined depth of more than 1.2 million feet during the first six months of the Iranian year. Iran has been touting its reserve potential, presumably to counter European plans to place an embargo on Iranian crude oil exports to the eurozone. Iran supplies about 20 percent of the oil exported to the European Union. The country ranks third among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.