Elf Is Ready To Fund Over $2 Bn Worth Of Energy Projects In Syria & Lebanon.

Elf Aquitaine of France is preparing to be a big player in the energy sectors of Syria and Lebanon, where it has offered to fund projects worth more than $2 bn. About $1.5 bn would be spent on upstream, midstream and downstream gas projects in Syria.

Elf is the third biggest oil producer in Syria, with an output of 60,000 b/d, next to Al Furat (350,000 b/d) and state-owned SPC (140,000 b/d). In this it is a 50% partner of SPC in the Deir Ez Zor Petroleum Co. (DEZPC) formed in late 1990. (Elf, the operator, acquired the Deir Ez Zor block from Shell in early 1989. It has since found oil in several locations and has developed four fields: North Attala, Al Mazraa, Jafra and Qahar. Together, they have an installed capacity of 76,000 b/d of 34-37 deg. API oils, with 60,000 b/d of crudes being pumped for export by DEZPC's own spur line to the old IPC pipeline which ends at the Banias terminal - see survey of Syria in Vol. 50).

Elf and Conoco of the US have a $430m contract to utilise Syria's 225 BCM of gas reserves through the following projects: a network of pipelines to collect associated gas from 23 oilfields and produce 5 MCM/day from 2001; a 4.9 MCM/day gas processing plant to produce 4.2 MCM/day of dry gas (to be fed into the national grid) and 19,000 b/d of condensates from the Tabiyeh field by 2003; and a 4.6 MCM/day, 250 km, pipeline connecting the country's oil and gas fields with the national grid in the central Palmyra region. Most of the new gas will substitute for fuel oil in Syria's power plants.

Elf is proposing an EOR system for SPC's 140,000 b/d heavy oil production in the Souedie region. In addition, the French company is drilling an exploration well in the Tishrin block in the north-east. It is also studying the development of new gas fields in the Palmyra region and proposing to supply 3 MCM/day by pipeline to Lebanon's power plants.

Apart from proposing the supply of Syrian gas to Lebanon, Elf has offered the Beirut government a series of projects on BOT basis: a 1.3m t/y terminal to regasify Qatari LNG and distribute gas along the Lebanese coast, and new power plants to be built based on this gas. These projects could cost Elf over $600m and would become Lebanese property after 25 years of BOT operation. But the Beirut government is yet to appreciate the importance of BOT financing for a country which is economically stagnant.