Iran discovers new 53 billion barrel oil deposit

According to an announcement by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s President, 53 billion barrels of crude have been found, boosting overall reserves by nearly one-third.

The announcement by Hassan Rouhani comes as Iran faces crushing American sanctions after the U.S. pulled out of its nuclear deal with world powers last year.

“I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil and pressured our nation, the country’s dear workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil in a big field,” Rouhani said.

The addition of 53 billion barrels worth of exploitable oil officially pushes Iran past Canada, making it the world’s third-largest holder of crude.

The new field is expected to be the nation’s second-largest, after the 65 billion barrel behemoth currently located in Ahvaz.

While new reserves are a potential boon to Iran, an overall increase in production or sales are unlikely as the nation remains in an economically precarious zone due to U.S. sanctions.

Largely unable to secure new investments, discoveries of new resources are for show, with development simply being too expensive. This has already occurred even with resource projects financed by China, which maintains a $400 billion stake in Iran’s energy sector.