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 SYRIA
Mediterranean
Syria’s fields are rapidly depleting. New exploration
programmes are being encouraged in the productive areas and new service
contracts are being signed to upgrade production through EOR programmes.
Decline in output may be slowed but will not be reversed
as the country, besides the offshore, is well explored. The country’s 1
bn Bbl field at Suwaidiyah in the northeast of the country was
discovered in 1959 and production began in 1968. Output is now below
150,000 bpd, including production from nearby fields and the oil is
heavy and sour.
 A crude oil pipeline, built by the Iraq Petroleum Company
in 1952, runs from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to the Syrian port of Banias.
It was nationalized by both governments in 1972 then closed by Syria in
1982 during the Iran-Iraq war. Both sides agreed in 1998 to reopen the
line and Iraq now wants to restore it to its original 800,000 Bbls per
day capacity, eventually expanding it to 1.4 mm Bbls per day. Syria
would build an export refinery at Banias in conjunction with expansion.
Government policy is to encourage gas substitution in
order to maximize exports of crude oil and The Ministry of Petroleum has
recently stated that current reserves (presumably including yet-to-find)
in Syria are 23 Bn Bbls and that it plans to expand exploration between
2001 and 2010 to exploit them. It also intends to conduct an offshore
licensing round.
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