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Iran's Deceptive Oil Claims
(Forbes) Ellen R. Wald - On Sunday, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, announced that the national oil company had discovered a new oilfield containing 53 billion barrels of oil. As it turns out, Rouhani's announcement was mostly smoke and mirrors. A few days later, Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zangeneh, explained that the field would actually only increase Iran's oil reserves by 22 billion barrels. Moreover, based on a recovery rate of only 10%, Zangeneh explained that production will yield 2.2 billion barrels. This is because the oil is very heavy, making it difficult and expensive to produce. It seems unlikely that this oil has any chance of making it out of the ground.