A new discovery has been made in the Pazan gas field in southern Iran, revealing an estimated 10 Tcf (283 bcm) of natural gas. Iran’s oil minister noted that this find comes after an eight-year pause in exploration activities at the field and estimated that extraction could begin within 40 months. The oil ministry also announced that the development contract for the Pazan oil and gas field has already been awarded, with operations expected to commence soon.
For the first time, exploration teams from the National Iranian Oil Company drilled into a horizontal layer estimated to contain at least 200 mbl of crude oil, and further studies may reveal even larger reserves.
Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves, behind Russia, with approximately 34,000 bcm (17% of the world’s total conventional gas reserves as of the end of 2023). However, most of these reserves remain untapped because they are non-associated gas (not linked to oil fields) and because two-thirds are located offshore. Additionally, the majority of Iran’s gas production is consumed domestically or lost to flaring, and the country faces supply imbalances during periods of high demand.