Energy in Syria

Syrian physics researcher Adnan Mustafa has asserted that crude oil constitutes the backbone of the current energy system in Syria. He estimated the current production of Syria's crude oil at 600,000 barrels per day.

In a lecture he delivered on February 8 at the Damascus Arab cultural center in the al-Mazze district under the title "Energy in Syria, challenges and hopes" in the framework of the 13th economic seminar organized by the Syrian economic sciences society.

Mustafa added that as a result of increased consumption of oil and its relatively cheap prices, petrol has become the main energy source used in industrial and agricultural activities in Syria. He noted that Syria had progressed towards achieving self-reliance in the area of energy before the middle of the 1980s.

He made it clear that Syria's overall oil reserves have developed to reach at the beginning of the 21st century approximately 4.85 billion barrels distributed on the northeast areas of the country.

He continued that the production of the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) which was only 7.1 million barrels in 1968, developed to 60 million barrels at the present time. He said that the service contract companies started to produce oil at the beginning of 1985, and their production in 1999 reached 161 million barrels.

Mustafa stated that natural gas at the present constitutes the second hydrocarbon source for energy and industrial systems in Syria. He said that reserves of Syrian natural gas reached almost 595.1 billion cubic meters for the year 2000.

The lecturers also talked about forms of substitute and renewable energies including energies working on wind energy or the solar energy in order to heat water and generate electric power from photovoltaic cells.