São Paulo – Last Sunday (20th), Iraq announced the discovery of a crude oil reserve containing the equivalent of one billion barrels, in the first drilling by a government-owned company in almost 30 years. The information was released by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The reserves were found in the province of Maysan, in Southern Iraq, near the Iranian border. “Exploration began in Maysan, south of Amara (the province’s capital), last year,” said Assem Jihad, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Petroleum. “Today, it completed100% and achieved a great success,” he told AFP.
“The initial assessment from this discovery is about one billion barrels of oil,” said Jihad. “It will increase production capacity for (state-owned) Maysan Oil Company.” AFP has noted that in recent years, Iraq has sought to dramatically ramp up production and exploration in order to help rebuild its conflict-battered economy and infrastructure.
According to the agency, the country has proven reserves of 143.1 billion barrels of oil, and 3.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, both of which are among the largest in the world.
Exports
This Monday (21st), the Iraqi Ministry of Petroleum released its 2012 export figures. From January to December last year, Iraq exported 886.8 million barrels of oil, generating US$ 94.025 billion in revenues, up 13% from 2011.
Iraq shipped the highest volume in October, at 81.3 million barrels, and earned the most revenues in April, at US$ 8.795 billion.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
