Syria aims to intensify its efforts at oil and gas exploration and production over the next 20 years, the official Syrian press reported Friday.
"The oil ministry plans to expand its explorations for oil and gas between 2001 and 2020," Oil Minister Maher Jamal was quoted as saying during a government session by local newspapers.
Jamal also envisages "an increase of investments in the energy sector, the transport of oil and gas and in new refineries."
Syria produces 600,000 barrels of oil per day, of which little over half is exported. Gas production consists of 600 million cubic feet (17 million cubic meters) per day and is consumed locally.
Petroleum reserves in Syria are estimated by Western industrial sources to hold another 2.5 billion barrels, with production extending only for another 10 years.
Jamal's ministry has said that Syria's oil reserves will last another 20 to even 40 years.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
