Iranian President Hassan Rowhani,

Iran has discovered oil in the country’s southwestern Abadan region for the first time, the Mehr news agency quoted Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying on Wednesday.

The oil was found at a depth of 3,570 meters in an exploratory well and is “very light and sweet”, Zanganeh reportedly said.

“This is the first time we’ve reached oil in the Abadan region,” the minister was quoted as saying.

Zanganeh gave no estimate of how much oil the well might contain.

The United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran last year and imposed sanctions to choke Iran’s oil and banking industries, while temporarily allowing eight customers to keep buying crude from the Islamic Republic.

(Reuters/NAN)