Oil minister: Iraq’s oil reserve 505b barrels

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s oil reserve underground is estimated at 505 billion barrels, the Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrastani said on Monday. “The reserve that can be extracted is estimated at 134 billion barrels,” al-Shahrestani told the press. He explained that the estimations were made in coordination with “oil companies.” “The al-Qurna oilfield in Basra (southern Iraq) is the biggest in the country, with a reserve totaling at 43 billion barrels,” al-Shahrestani added. He noted that the al-Qurna oilfield is the second biggest throughout the world. MH (P)/SR 2