IPRMEL has begun drilling operations at the Karam-1 well in Block 24 located northeast of Syria, according to the General Petroleum Corporation.

Syria’s production of crude oil remained stable in the first half of this year at 387,250 barrels a day, an increase of 957 barrels a day compared with the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Petroleum.

Iraq and Syria are finalising a deal for the export of 10,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil a day to Syria, according to news agencies.

On Monday July 25, Syria, Iraq and Iran are to sign a final agreement for the construction of a gas pipeline linking Iranian gas fields with Syria and potentially Europe.

Loon Lattakia, a partially-owned subsidiary of Kulczyk Oil, and Gulfsands Petroleum are drilling new wells in Blocks 9 and 26 located in the northwest and northeast parts of the country.

The Ministry of Oil has extended the deadline for the submission of the documents for qualification for an international bidding round for offshore blocks.

An Iraqi pipeline carrying crude oil to Syria was blown up on July 10, interrupting supplies, according to an Iraqi news agency.

The Syrian Gas Company is seeking bids for the construction of a gas pipeline and a pressure reduction and metering station for the Banias Refinery.

Syria is launching an international bid for the development of oil shale deposits.

Syria is buying gas oil at around USD 1,000 per ton, or SYP 47 per litre, from international markets, three times its local retail price, according to Mahrukat, the state-owned company in charge of distributing the product.

Ebla Petroleum Company, a joint-venture between the Syrian Government and Petro-Canada, a Suncor energy subsidiary, spud a well in the Ash-Shaer Field on June 20, according to the General Petroleum Corporation.

Kulczyk Oil, an independent oil company carrying exploration works in Syria, said that it would start in July drilling operations in Block 9 after it signed a drilling rig contract with Sinopec.

Gulfsands Petroleum said it had failed to find oil in commercially viable quantities in the Abu Ghazal-1 well and that it was stopping works there.

Syria’s Minister of Petroleum has awarded a joint-venture of Total E&P and Petro-Canada an exploration license for Block 3 located in the northeast.

Syria will need to import every year some 46 million tons of oil equivalent products in 2030, which will cost some USD 40 billion at current market prices, should the growth in demand continue at its current pace, Imad Khamis, the Minister of Electricity, said.