Syria, China oil cooperation promising: official

09:50, April 06, 2010

Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sufian la-Allaw told Xinhua on Monday he is looking forward more contracts and cooperation with Chinese oil companies, hailing that oil cooperation between the two countries is successful.

His remarks came from the 7th Syrian International Oil and Gas Exhibition "SYROIL 2010," which starts from Monday and lasts for four days.

265 companies from 41 countries, including China oil giant CNPC and SINOPEC, participate in this exhibition which seeks to attract local, Arab and foreign companies and introduce new technologies in oil and gas production.

It comes at a time when the energy demand has grown all over the world as international oil companies have been showing increased interest in exploring investment opportunities in local and regional markets.

"From 2003, we began to cooperate with CNPC, which is successful and nice. Last year, We had one joint venture oil company with China. We hope that the cooperation with China oil companies to continue in progress and to see more contracts and more cooperation in the future," Allaw said.

The Chinese oil companies have explored the Syrian market for the last few years and made a remarkable progress in oil production with advanced technology such as Acid Fracturing Operation.

According to a recent statement by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, investment in energy amounts to 25 percent of the total Syrian government investments, making 5.5 billion U.S. dollars, in addition to over 3 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment in oil and gas sectors.

Observers of oil industry in Syria expect that SYROIL 2010 would help attract more international companies as part of the government's plan to increase foreign investments in the oil field. The government has recently offered bids for exploration and investment in seven new oil fields.

Source: Xinhua 

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