Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Sunday that Iran has discovered a new oil field in the southwest province of Khuzestan with in-place reserves of 1.1 billion barrels.

The field, which is located near Andimeshk in Khuzestan, holds an estimated reserve of 233 million barrels of recoverable crude oil, state television quoted Nozari as saying.

The oil discovered in the new field is light crude with an API gravity of 33 degrees, the Iranian oil minister said.

Commenting on current status of the oil market, he said the situation is good and there is no shortage on the market.

Iran is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world and ranks second in output among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members.

Iranian officials have said that the country's oil reserves were estimated at more than 130 billion barrels, about 12 percent of global reserves.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)