Syria Sees Path to Oil Revival

Wood Mackenzie indicates a slow recovery to make oil and gas business in Syria after the change in territorial control and sanctions lifting.

Syria has the potential to experience a slow resurgence in oil and gas output after over 10 years of warfare, as new data shows by Wood Mackenzie. The Syrian government is on a recent spurt of reclaiming major oil and gas fields in the northeast, a factor that is creating an opportunity to revive the upstream.

A ceasefire deal between the government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has resulted in government forces occupying key oil fields, gas fields, and other major producing regions in Deir ez-Zor and Al-Raqqah, including the Omar oil field and the Tabiyeh gas field. The agreement gives the authority of energy resources, boundary crossings, and civil bodies to Damascus, favoring central authority over the oil and gas business.

According to Wood Mackenzie, the structural turning point may be reached due to the consolidation of the territories with the help of the sanctions relief and the reappearance of the foreign interaction. In 2011, the oil production in Syria had declined to 50,000-80,000 barrels/day, down from 380,000 barrels/day in 2011.

Oil and gas output will start recovering by 2026, and the revival will be fueled by low-cost workovers, artificial lift updating, and repairing of surface facilities. Greater returns will be pegged on foreign capital, transfer of technology, and reestablished export channels.

It is not only that several foreign companies have already entered into agreements to revert, such as Dana Gas and firms that have connections to ConocoPhillips and Novaterra. Syria has an oil and gas industry that is attracting a wary eye of global players with the remaining estimated resources of at least 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.