Iran says discovers oil field in its southwest

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has discovered a new oil field holding an estimated 233 million barrels of recoverable sweet oil, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Sunday.

The field, which has in-place reserves of 1.1 billion barrels, lies in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan, north of the city Andimeshk, state television quoted Nozari as saying.

Iran, the second-largest producer of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), two months ago put its oil reserves at around 136 billion barrels.

Iran is a big producer of sour oil with a higher sulphur content than sweet crudes. Sour oil sells at a discount to sweet types.

In June, Nozari said Iran had discovered an oilfield with estimated in-place reserves of 750 million barrels within its southwestern Jofeir oilfield.

State oil company head Seikfollah Jashnsaz was in May quoted as saying Iran did not expect to discover any more major oil fields, but that it planned to raise output by developing small fields and increasing the return from ones already under production.

He said Iran aims to boost its oil output to 4.3 million barrels per day (bpd) by next March from 4.2 million bpd now.

Iran has made windfall gains from the high oil price in recent years. Its oil income amounted to around $60 billion in the 2006-07 Iranian year and officials expect it to increase further this year.

However, analysts say Iran's oil industry needs a big injection of foreign investment to boost output, but that Western firms in particular are wary of investing in Iran after the U.N. imposed sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.