Syria’s Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources has invited international oil companies to bid for the development of oil shale deposits and mining operations in the Khanaser area in the north of the country.

The 150-square kilometre area in the Aleppo governorate is divided into 14 blocks with reserves of up to 3 billion tonnes in each. Interested bidders have until 30 November to submit offers for one or more blocks with bid bonds of $5,000 for each block.  

Tenders books were made available from 1 July at a cost of $3,000 from the General Establishment for Geology & Mineral Resources (GEGMR).

“The total crude reserves at the site are estimated at 39 billion tonnes and the oil content rate is valued between 5 and 11 per cent, located at depths close to the surface,” said the ministry in a 7 July announcement.

The maximum rock cover thickness is 59 metres and the minimum thickness is 23m. Primary exploratory studies have been carried out by the GEGMR, including digging wells and thermal energy tests.

After a decade of declining production, Syria lifted its production of crude oil to 386,000 barrels a day (b/d) in 2010, up 2.4 per cent on its production in 2009 (MEED 27:1:11).