Iran ups oil reserves estimate, passes Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iran increased its estimated oil reserves on Monday to a level which would return it to third place in the world after Iraq said last week it had overtaken its neighbour. Coming ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday, one analyst said the two countries were in a “bidding war” over reserves, which is usually a consideration including other criteria such as production capacity when it comes to allocating quotas. Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi told a news conference Iran had 150.31 billion barrels of reserves, up from a previous estimate of 138 billion barrels and added that figure would be revised even higher soon. ? “This latest figure will definitely go up by the end of the year,” Reuters quoted him as saying. Last Monday, Iraq raised its proven oil reserves figure by a quarter to 143 billion barrels, surpassing Iran and putting it behind only Saudi Arabia in terms of conventional crude, and third after Venezuela if unconventional reserves are counted. Amrita Sen, an analyst at Barclays in London, said of the rival claims by Iran and Iraq: “It looks like almost a bidding war.” During the Iran–Iraq war in the 1980s OPEC meetings were dominated by Iraq demanding an output quota equal to Iran‘s. The situation was only resolved after the war when some OPEC members gave up some of their shares for Baghdad to have an equal quota. Iraq said last week its revised figure would help it get a higher OPEC quota in the future. It is exempt from the quota system while it recovers from years of war. Thursday’s meeting is not expected to set new quotas or alter output targets. Sen said the headline reserves figure was only part of the story, and did not reflect a country’s ability to pump crude and get it to market. “It is not a question of how much reserves they have got in the ground but how much oil they can produce. Iran‘s production rate from mature fields is one of the highest in the world.” Mirkazemi said Iran‘s production capacity was 4.2 million barrels a day but was pumping less due to its OPEC quota. SH (S) 2