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05/12/2010
Syroil 2010: Exploring new partnerships
With energy consumption expected to triple by 2030, Syria is preparing itself for better resource utilization by attracting companies such as France’s Total Oil, and othersby Jennifer Mackenzie
At Syroil 2010, over 200 companies displayed their eagerness to pitch into the potential behind Syria’s oil and gas sector. Over the next 15 years, that picture will become increasingly complex, with oil production expected to fall by up to a third, gas production to rise by 23%, and Syria’s consumption of electricity to double, before tripling by 2030, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
Meanwhile, Syria has the significant potential to become a transit hub for gas and oil en route to Turkey and on to the European Union. “We’re especially excited by the transit potential of Syria,” observed British Ambassador Simon Collis. “Transit has an economic importance, but also a political dimension and an energy security dimension. So these are the things that were very interested in and hope to encourage.”
Including British-Dutch oil giant Shell, which has been in Syria since 1949, Collis added, “we have 19 British companies participating this year, some for first time, and we’re confident that new business will come out of it.”
Total also brought nine French small and medium-sized enterprises to Syroil, “to develop business and partnerships here with local Syrian enterprises,” explained Sabine Kulasin of Total Group France, who praised the exhibition for “facilitating relationships between companies and countries. It’s our first mission in Syria,” she added, “but it won’t be the last. We have a very fine international diplomatic environment with Syria. And Total is well-known in Syria – we’ve been here for 20 years. So I think we can be a very important actor.”
Shell and Total’s oil production fell last year, but both companies remain optimistic. “We think there are still a lot of opportunities here in Syria for developing our business. There’s still a lot to do in exploration, and also increasing the recovery factor wherever it can be achieved,” commented Jean-Louis Barjolle, General Manager of Total Syria.
Ghaleb Sleiman, deputy General Manager of Shell, agreed. “We’ve been successful in meeting the targets we’ve set: 100,000-plus barrels every day, and that’s not easy,” he said, adding that new technologies can boost production rates. “In the past, you could recover 35 to 40%, and that would be great. But with the technology advancing, you increase that number.”
Riad Tomeh, head of Technical Study Center at al-Furat, Shell’s Syrian partner company, concurrs. “The easy oil has already been produced,” he explained. “Now we are looking for the difficult oil, for remaining oil. We don’t have huge fields. This needs innovative thinking, together with new technology and enhancement of oil recovery.”
Many newer companies are also stepping into the breach. “I think it’s an underdeveloped market,” said Jon Ferrier, General Manager of PetroCanada. For him, Syroil is a chance to “proudly show ourselves off as having completed a project months ahead of our contractual deadline and on budget, for the benefit of Syria and us. Two years ago, many people didn’t know what PetroCanada was. So sitting here 22 months later, we can say yes, we did it, better than expected, and ready to start producing gas.”
Chinese companies are also looking to increase their stake in this sector. Pu Haiyang of SSKOC, China National Petroleum Corporation's Syrian partner, boasted that since expanding outside China in 1993, CNPC now operates in 27 countries. “We grew up quickly,” he said smiling. “And in Syria, they need advanced technology and investment, which we have. It’s a win-win situation.” A sales representative from a Chinese rig company said more cautiously, “we’re waiting to see what happens.” But, he added, in many places, “Syrian equipment is very old and shabby; it needs to be replaced” adding, “we have some chance.”
