Syria signs an agreement with Shell

Syria's minister of oil Ibrahim Haddad has projected that Syria's oil production to increase into between 20 to 30, 000 barrels a day.

In a press conference of the occasion of signing two new contracts with the Dutch "Shell" and the Canadian "Petrochemical" to complete exploration and excavation of oil fields, Haddad said that Syria's production of oil might increase to 60 million barrels annually for these wells, in an average of 20,000 to 30,000 thousands barrels per day.

Earlier, the Syrian minister said that Syria seeks to increase its production at 100,000 barrels a day to 650,000 barrels daily with the fall of year 2006.

Shell deputy chairman, Dadly Parkinson, said that the inspired increase will be achieved within two to three years with the use of modern technology. On the other hand, the Canadian company issued a statement in which it said that the company is committed to drill 10 new wells, according to the new contract.

The Syrian ministry of oil, several days ago, announced that a new gas well was discovered in al-Dalaa site, 100 Km to the east of Homs, and 90 Km to the south of Raqqa, with a production capacity between 250,000 to 300,000 cubic meters daily, while the total reserves of the well is estimated at 1.2 billion cubic meters, according to the preliminary study. The total production capacity of gas in Syria is estimated at 22 million cubic meters daily.