Ebla Gas Project Starts Test Production
Syria’s General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) announced on 16 March the start up of test production at the Ebla gas treatment plant – a joint venture project with Petro-Canada to develop and produce natural gas from the Ash-Shaer and Cheriffe fields. The project involves the drilling of 10 wells – six for gas, three for oil and one water well; the construction of a gas gathering plant at Ash-Shaer field and a 77km, 16-inch pipeline connecting the field to the Furqlus gas plant and to a 3.2km, 16-inch supply gasline to the national network; and a gas treatment plant near Furqlus with a capacity of 2.8mn cmd of raw gas (2.5mn cmd of sales gas), 120 tons/day of liquefied petroleum gas and 2,500 b/d of condensate. The Ebla plant is being built by UK-based oil and gas services company, Petrofac, under a $477mn lump sum contract awarded in April 2008. The Ash-Shaer plant is located between Homs and Palmyra and the contract includes all associated facilities and infrastructure, as well engineering, procurement and construction, commissioning and start-up assistance of the gas treatment plant, pipelines, gas gathering station flow lines and well sites (MEES, 14 April 2008).
Confirming progress at the Ebla project the General Manager of Petro-Canada Palmyra, Jon Ferrier, told The Syria Report on 8 March that the plant should be ready to deliver gas to the Syrian gas network in May, ahead of schedule. He said that the project will be producing 80mn cfd (or 2.5mn cmd) of gas and that by the end of 2010 some 2,000-3,000 b/d of oil would be produced. If oil reserves are confirmed, crude production could rise to 12,000-15,000 b/d in the long term.
Syria’s production of raw gas in 2009 stood at around 22mn cmd, of which sales gas amounted to 18mn cmd (MEES, 14 September 2009). But currently production is running at 25mn cmd, according to a recent statement by Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sufian 'Alaw. Last November Syria inaugurated the South Middle Area Gas Project which has the capacity to produce 7.2mn cmd of sales gas, 50mn t/d of LPG and 4,500 b/d of condensate (MEES, 23 November 2009). Presently Syria has no surplus gas for export and imports 2.5mn cmd from Egypt. But it has plans to import gas from Iran and Azerbaijan in the future, probably via the Turkish network, and possibly from Iraq at a later stage. Earlier this month Syria signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate the finalization of an agreement to import 1-1.5mn cmd of Azeri gas (MEES, 8 March). Also, Syria and Azerbaijan plan to set up oil and gas joint companies which can operate in either of these countries or elsewhere.
Copyright MEES 2010.
