Iran Begins Project to Study Shale Gas Potential in Lorestan Province

Iran has commenced a research project to collect data on shale gas reserves in the western province of Lorestan, oil ministry owned Shana News reported Wednesday.

The project has progressed by 5 percent now, an exploration official Bahman Soleimani said.

According to the official, under a contract signed with Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) in March 2014, the institute is due to complete the research in a 42-month period, Shana added.

The research will be done in three phases and includes geology and geochemical studies in the first phase, conducting detailed studies by using different methods, laboratory studies and interpretation of geophysics and petro-physics studies and modeling in the second phase and designing, management and drilling in order to have access to an exact evaluation of the shale gas reserves in the third phase.

The project is expected to cost little over half a million euros, Shana reported.