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Syria is preparing to issue tenders for projects to upgrade the country’s refining capacity this year, according to industry sources.

Prior to the country’s civil war, which began in 2011, the Homs and Baniyas refineries had a combined capacity of 250,000 barrels of crude a day (b/d).

They are currently operating at 20% of their pre-war capacity and refining only around 50,000 b/d.

The state-owned national oil and gas company, Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), hopes to start execution of the refinery upgrade projects next year.

The projects are expected to include upgrading the Baniyas refinery, which would replace four main reactors (R1, R2, R3, R4) in the upgrading unit and refurbish the internal components of the first and second reactors.

In addition to planning projects to upgrade the capacity of existing refineries, SPC intends to develop a new refinery with a capacity of 150,000 b/d.

In a statement in April, the US-Syria Business Council said that plans for the new refinery presented an opportunity for US companies.

It said that US refinery technology companies, including Honeywell, UOP and KBR, were being considered to play a role in the development.

Syria is currently in the midst of a major push to develop its oil and gas sector.

So far this year, it has signed new agreements with major oil and gas companies including France’s TotalEnergies, state-owned QatarEnergy and US-based Chevron.

READ: Activity ramps up in Syria’s oil and gas sector

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