Block 24 Oil Production Due To Start This Month
Following the discovery of oil last year in Block 24 in northeastern Syria by operator ONGC Videsh (60%) and IPR Mediterranean Exploration Ltd (IPRMEL – 40%), a subsidiary of IPRGOC of the US, oil production from the block is expected to start shortly, IPRGOC supervisor of field services Emy Blair told The Syria Report last week on the sidelines of the Syroil exhibition. Ms Blair said that production will start from the Rashid-1 well in the next two-three weeks, and will follow from Abu Khashab-1 and 2 in May or early June. A new venture – Al-Rashid Petroleum Company (ARPC) ‒set up recently by ONGC Videsh, IPRMEL and Syria’s General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) is to begin production in April at the rate of 5,000 b/d, The Syria Report added. Ms Blair also said that five new wells are in the company’s drilling schedule and current plans call for an increase in production to 25,000 b/d in the next three years. Oil in place in the block is estimated at 185mn barrels (MEES, 15 March).
Elsewhere in Block 9, Loon Lattakia (a subsidiary of Kulczyk Oil of Canada) plans to start drilling in 2011, the company’s vice-president for operations and engineering Edwin Bearman, told The Syria Report. “We will finish the 3D seismic survey by the end of next month. Depending on the findings of the survey, we plan to drill two wells in 2011 and spend approximately $12-16mn,” he said.
Copyright MEES 2010.
