Iran Says New Oil Field Adds Only 22 bln Barrels to Reserves

Iran's oil minister said Monday that an oil field whose discovery President Hassan Rouhani announced at the weekend adds only 22.2 billion barrels to the country's estimated crude reserves.

Out of the amount at the site, only a tenth -- 2.2 billion barrels --- can be extracted due to technological limitations, the minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, told reporters in Tehran.

Rouhani announced on Sunday the discovery of a new oil field containing 53 billion barrels of oil in southwestern Iran.