Oil Minister: Oil Production Rate 28.000 Barrels Per Day

DAMASCUS, (ST) -The Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources, Suleiman al –Abbas, affirmed that the current crisis experienced by Syria have led to “significant damage on the oil sector and the creation of a hard reality” whereas the imposition of Western sanctions on the oil and gas sector and the suspension of foreign companies working in the field of exploration and excavating led to technical and financial difficulties in insuring labor and production requirements.

During a meeting of following the implementation of the plans productivity and investment in 2013, the minister said that the last year had witnessed an increase in terrorist attacks for the production and transportation infrastructure of oil and gas that led to a decline in production and the difficulty of bringing it to the sites of refining and consumption and increased the losses of the oil and mineral wealth, amounting to 11,942 million barrels of oil until 2013.

“Despite all the difficulties and challenges, the workers in the ministry exerted great efforts to continue to supply power plants with gas and fuel needed to ensure the operation of these stations and to ensure the supply refineries with crude oil through alternative sources, noting that the value of the products of the oil and clean gas and domestic gas in 2013 amounted to 8.3 billion of dollar,” Mr. al –Abbas clarified.

The total oil produced in 2013 in Syria amounted to 10.140 million barrels at a rate of production of an average 28 thousand barrels per day, down 142 thousand barrels per day for an average production in 2012.

With respect to gas, the total production in Syria amounted to 6.151 billion cubic meters in 2013 of an average of 17 million cubic meters per day.

The value of total sales of the company fuel for 2013 from oil derivatives and cooking gas has reached 327.75 billion Syrian pounds while the value of total purchases of these materials estimated at 523.321 billion pounds, and the value of the support of petroleum products reached to 226.183 billion SP in 2013.

Sharif el -Khatib