On 10 November 2019, the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) announced that it has discovered a new oil field in the Khuzestan Province, in SW Iran. Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh stated that the new field was named Namavaran, adding that it is estimated to contain in-place volumes of around 53 Bbo. The fields reservoir reportedly sits at a depth of 3,100m with an average thickness of approximately 80m. In his announcement the Minister said that of the 53 Bbo resource figure, around 31 Bbo had been previously discovered, with 22 Bbo added recently. Covering an area of 2,400 sq km, Namavaran under- and/or over-lies various other existing oil fields in the area (e.g. Ab-Teymour, Jofeir, Sepeher), suggesting that a recent near field exploration campaign has simply proven up an existing play in the area. In addition, reports imply that the reservoir in question is fairly tight, indicating that only relatively small amounts are recoverable. As such the country's proven reserves will have seen a modest increase, but not as much as a 33% boost like President Rouhani is reported to have claimed.
Press has been rife with reports of a super-discovery in Khuzestan, designated Namavaran and assumed made by NIOC. The fields reservoir reportedly sits at a depth of 3100m with an average thickness of approximately 80m. The massive reserves quoted (53 Bbo) are thought to be attributable to parts of the Mansuri, Sepehr, Susangerd and Ab-E-Teimur fields, in the Oligo-Miocene Gachsaran or Asmari Fm's. The new reservoir would feature an already-respectable 22,2 Bbo of additional reserves, assumed to be in-place, possibly ~10% recovery factor.