Syria has invited international companies
to submit bids to explore three of its offshore oil blocks, despite unrest that
has swept cities and towns over the last few weeks and threatened the
government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Oil Ministry said that companies should submit their bids by Oct. 5.
It said bidders can submit their offers for one or more of the three offshore
blocks, located about five kilometers from the Syrian coast in the
Mediterranean Sea.
The three blocks cover a total area of 9,038 square kilometers, it said. Block
1, off the city of Tartous, covers 3,176 square kilometers; Block II, off
Banias, extends 2,977 square kilometers; and Block III covers 2,885 square
kilometers off Latakia, the tender document said.
The discovery of the
potentially giant Leviathan gas find offshore Israel
by U.S. oil company Noble
Energy Inc. in December, and significant gas discoveries in Egypt and Gaza
Strip in recent years, could encourage companies to bid for Syrian offshore
blocks, analysts said.
Syria aims at boosting its crude oil production, which has declined to
380,000 barrels a day, from 590,000 barrels a day in 2006.
But analysts said these plans could be hindered by recent unrest witnessed in
several Syrian cities, inspired by a wave of uprisings in the Arab world that
ousted longtime rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and that have ignited an armed
conflict in Libya.
International oil companies
such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Total SA, and China National Petroleum Corp.,
U.K.-incorporated energy company Gulfsands Petroleum PLC Russia's Tatneft and India's
ONGC Videsh are already working on oil and gas projects in the country.