Licensing rounds held in Syria

=2006=

In a bidding round held in August 2006, Shell won two of the nine oil and gas concessions offered. According to a leaked US diplomatic cable, executives from a number of international oil companies (IOCs) complained about Shell's agressive bidding practices, which lowered the competitiveness of their own bids and were more generous than the terms offered previously by a major oil company. Reportedly, Shell offered to upgrade two Syrian refineries at no cost to the Syrian government.

=2007=

In mid-2007 Syria held its first offshore licensing round, offering four blocks covering a total area of 5000 square kilometres. However the response was disappointing with only one bid received (by a consortium led by private British firm Dove Energy), and no awards were made.

=2010=

On 14 January 2010, the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of Syria announced that seven state-owned onshore oil fields had been put on offer for appraisal and redevelopment. International oil companies (IOCs) were invited to bid for Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for the fields in the Raqqa Province.

The fields put forward were all heavy crude fields discovered by the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), including Tureb West, Halima and Dohal fields (Group 1) and Jaadeen, Zenati, Tal Asfar and Al Haloul fields (Group 2). The final deadline for the submission of bids was extended to the 20 June 2010.

=2011=

Syria's second offshore licensing round, the International Offshore Bid Round 2011, was opened on March 24 2011 by the Syrian Ministry for Petroleum and Mineral Resources. It was originally scheduled for closure by October 2011, but was then re-scheduled twice. As of early 2012, there was no new date for completion of the bid round.

=References=

