Dardari who was speaking at a workshop which was organized by Banias Refinery on Saturday, indicated that that the government will seek during the next stage to raise the level of  investment  competence in gas to the maximum level possible , and also to increase the competence of production and consumption of the oil and gas derivatives.

He stressed hat the oil and gas , and other mineral resources constitute an important resource for the national economy , pointing out to the increase of oil revenues in Syria in spite of the low volume of production.

He underlined the necessity for improving the infrastructure of the oil and mineral resources sector in order to cope with the economic growth that has exceeded expectations, and has become more in need of fundamental structures in spheres of transport, and energy.

He added that the government will work on deepening the economic financial and banking reforms, and on activation of trade and investment that form the backdrop of the rise of the social economy market.

For his part, Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources ,Sufian Allaw, said that Syria had potential reserves of all degrees estimated at 6500 million cubic meters including 4675 million cubic meters of oil , and 1825 million cubic meters of condensers  , describing the oil sector as pivotal and basic to the development of national economy.

He stressed that Syria is witnessing a revolution in the world of gas and this constitutes a challenge to the Syrian Petroleum Company because the total demand for clean gas is growing and is expected to reach 50 million cubic meters in 2020 , since it constitutes a substitute for fuel, and gasoline .

Tartous, (SANA) , August 11, 2007 - 08:40 PM

Syrian deputy Oil Minister Hassan Zainab said Wednesday that the Ministry would embark on several steps to facilitate Kuwaiti oil investments in Syria. In remarks to KUNA, Zainab stated that his country was very keen to build investments with fellow Arab countries and added this interest was showcased in the recent cooperation with Kuwaiti Al-Nour financial investment company in the oil sector. Recently, the Kuwaiti company was involved in the building of about 50 stations to distribute oil products, said the Syrian official who added the company would head a team of international and Arab investors in building an Oil refinery in Deir Al-Zor area. He stated that the Oil refinery would produce about 140,000 barrels and would cost USD 1.5 billion to build.
About other Kuwait oil and gas ventures in Syria, Zainab said that a contract to excavate for oil in Palmyra (Tadmur) was signed by the Oil Ministry here and the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), in addition to Canada's Startech Energy limited Company. On natural gas production in Syria, the official noted that the amount of 23 million square-meters was enough for current production and added that with the construction of the new gas factory in Homs city, the country's production would increase by six million square-meters. Meanwhile, Al-Nour's head of projects Omar Samarah underlined the importance of the Syrian market for Arab investors and namely Kuwaiti ones. Regarding the oil refinery project in Deir Al-Zor, which was agreed Tuesday by Syrian oil minister Sufiyan Al-Awa, Samarah said that it was not the first of its kind and added that the company participated in other projects in Syria.