BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: An important report that had announced a large increase in Iraq’s national oil reserves from 115 to 143 billion barrels offered a vision about the possibility of reaching such a huge figure as well as the time of its achievement.The report reiterated that when Iraq announced a “huge increase in its oil reserves,” the announcement was not taken by surprise, as Iraq has been boasting for years that it possesses the third largest oil reserves in the world. In addition, Iraq noted that it had reached such figures despite using an antiquated technology that allowed it to excavate a limited part of its territories in search of its oil reserves.
The report also pointed out that “along with the foreign investments and the worldwide experience, the Iraqi oil reserves should have been raised to a comparatively high level, but the increase that was announced did not reach more than 143 billion barrels, from the previously announced 115 billion.”
The Director General of Oil Reserves and Development of Oil Fields in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Abdul-Aal Al-Dabbaj, said that the surge had been achieved from two oilfields that were given to foreign oil companies as part of last yearÂ’s oil tenders based on a new concept regarding the old oilfields.
He noted that Iraq’s confirmed oil reserves “would increase more than that, when a third party’s seismological survey will be carried out for other giant oilfields that were assigned to other international oil companies.”
Answering another question regarding the sites of other excavated oil sites, Dabbaj expected that they would take place in “al-Anbar Province,” pointing out that “this matter shall need further excavations in that sector.”