Tehran, Oct 5 (IANS): Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji has announced that Iran has uncovered four new oil and gas fields in the past two years.

Owji revealed during a cabinet meeting in Tehran that the newly discovered fields hold recoverable reserves, which refer to oil and gas reserves that are economically and technically feasible to extract at the existing price of oil, amounting to 2.6 billion barrels, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

He said on Wednesday that the new fields included Cheshmehshour gas field in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, the Hirkan oilfield in the northern province of Golestan, and the Tengoo and Genaveh oilfields in the southern province of Bushehr, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Minister added "Iran ranks first in terms of hydrocarbon explorations among regional countries".

According to a January report by the Energy Information Administration affiliated with the US Department of Energy, Iran sits on the world's third-largest oil and second-largest gas reserves respectively.