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Iran announced on 23 August 2026 the discovery of a natural gas field in the southern province of Fars holding more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 212 billion cubic metres.
Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said about 5.7 trillion cubic feet is recoverable and that the find also holds gas condensate worth tens of billions of dollars.
The gas is 'sweet', meaning it has low hydrogen sulphide content and needs less processing than sour gas.
Paknejad compared the recoverable volume to about 15 years of output from a single phase of South Pars, the world's largest gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar.
Iran holds the world's second-largest proven natural gas reserves, close to 34 trillion cubic metres, after Russia; its previous major find was the Pazan field announced in October 2025.
Natural gas is called sweet when it contains little hydrogen sulphide and sour when it contains a high proportion of sulphur compounds. Sour gas has to be treated to strip out hydrogen sulphide, a toxic and corrosive gas, before it can be moved through pipelines or sold, so a sweet-gas field is cheaper to develop and operate. Separately, petroleum geologists grade reserves as proven, probable and possible: proven reserves are the quantities that geological and engineering data show with reasonable certainty can be recovered under existing economic and operating conditions. This is why two figures are quoted for the same field - the total gas in place, 7.5 trillion cubic feet here, and the smaller volume considered commercially recoverable, about 5.7 trillion cubic feet. Gas condensate, also reported in this field, is a light liquid hydrocarbon that separates out of the gas stream when pressure and temperature fall during production.
Simple Analogy: Gas in place is the water in a well; recoverable reserves are the part you can actually pull up with the bucket you own.
Fars is a southern Iranian province in the Zagros belt, inland from the Persian Gulf coast; Bushehr lies between it and the Gulf, and the South Pars field sits offshore in the Gulf on the boundary with Qatar's North Field.
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General Awareness > World Geography and Current Affairs
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General Awareness > World Geography
Natural gas with low hydrogen sulphide content, requiring less treatment before use
Light liquid hydrocarbons that condense out of natural gas as pressure and temperature drop during production
Quantities that geological and engineering data show with reasonable certainty to be recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions