Iran has discovered a new oil field with proven reserves of around 53 billion barrels of crude oil, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on November 10, Reuters reported.

Iran began the field’s discovery in 2016, with initial reserves of around 31 billion barrels of crude oil; after that, around 22 billion barrels were added to the field’s reserves.

The new oil field is located in the Southwest of Iran in the Khuzestan province and covers an area of over 2,400 square kilometers (km²).

“Workers and the exploration arm of the National Iranian Oil Company have found an oil field with 53 billion barrels of reserves,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.

The discovery of the oil field is supposed to boost Iran’s reserves by about a third, according to Rouhani, adding that around 2.2 billion barrels of crude oil were added to the country’s production capacity.

Iran had estimated proven reserves of around 157 billion barrels of crude oil in January 2018. Thus, the country is considered the fourth largest global holder of crude oil and the world’s second largest reserves of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).