There are three reasons behind recent announcements from Iran that it is targeting big oil and gas production gains from its ultra-oil-rich West Karoun cluster of fields, comprising North and South Azadegan, North and South Yaran, and Yadavaran, among other lesser-known sites. The first is that the area contains one of the largest collective oil reserves in the world – well over 67 billion barrels of oil in place – and enormous associated gas deposits as well. An additional benefit to these oil reserves is that their average lifting…