Speaking to Shana, Karim Zobeidi said this recovery rate is almost half of the average of that in other fields operated by NIOC in Iran, adding that Azadegan oilfield is estimated to hold 45 billion barrels of crude oil in its reserves.

According to him, the primary and secondary recovery rates of the Sarvak layer in the Ahwaz district are 10 and 2.5 percent, respectively, which is about half of that in Aghajari and Gachsaran fields.

Zobeidi also added that due to the need for large investments, the development of Azadegan field has not been fully possible in recent years and limited development is underway in the field.

He said 24% is the average rate of recovery of crude oil in Iran while the figure is 35% in the world.

With each percent of growth in recovery rate, over 7 billion barrels of oil can be recovered, he said; an amount which is tantamount to a daily production of 4 mbd or roughly $350 billion of revenue generation.