Tehran, Dec 30 (IANS): Iran has allocated $15.2 billon for the development of joint oilfields with neighbouring Iraq as part of its plans to increase output, a media report said Tuesday.

The plan for developing joint oilfields in Iran's Karoun region is aimed at bringing about an added production capacity of 550,000 barrels of crude oil per day, Press TV reported.

The development plan will be implemented over the course of four years.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has described the project as one of the largest development plans of his ministry, saying the implementation of the project would boost the country's oil output.

Based on studies, there are 23 joint hydrocarbon fields between Iran and Iraq, which are divided into exploration, development and production categories.

Iran's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at over 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 total Iranian reserves.