Mahmoud Zirakchian-zadeh, the IOOC Managing Director said the 2.2-million-barrel floating oil storage unit (FSU) is located in the vicinity of Bahregan oil field and will be launched by October 2013.

Zirakchian-Zadeh stated that besides the highly advanced FSU, the company will also build a separate one-million-barrel storage facility in Bahregan within the same period.

He also noted that two units of one-million barrel oil storage facilities will be soon built and launched on the southern Iranian islands of Siri and Lavan, using the state-of-the art technology.

The 200-billion-rial (about USD 8.1 million) project involves the construction of two facilities, which for the first time in Iran will have composite-coated floors and ceilings, the official added.

Zirakchian-Zadeh said the new IOOC facilities will increase the country's crude storage capacity to 8.1 million barrels by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014).

Iran holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.

The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves. MRKD