Abstract

During the ottoman occupation, Syria suffered from high consumption of natural energetic resources. Large green parts have been erased because of cutting trees for heating and or railways… In the 1950s, Syria began to use oil resources. Oil consumption has been doubled between 1960 and 1970.

The first national energetic policy has been launched in 1974. The main energetic resources in Syria are hydrocarbons and electricity. Oil constitutes the principal resource (4.85 billions barrels of reserves). The article presents maps showing the emplacements of oil. Syria has extracted more than 2.7 billion barrels until 1997. Syrian energetic policy is tied to the national and strategic role in the region. After the technical dependence to the soviet experiences during the 1960s, Syria succeeded in developing local experiences in downstream industries (company of Homs refinery) and upstream industries (Syrian petroleum company joined by Banias refinery in the 1970s). Syria signed contracts with independent foreign companies (Shell, Pecton, Marathon, and ELF…) in order to explore new oil resources. Until 1998, Syria has been producing 600 thousand barrel a day.

Natural gas is the second main hydrocarbon resource in Syria. Gas reserves approximate 595.1 billion m3 (estimated in 2000). The country has other resources as shale oil (reserves estimated to 13 billion tons). Concerning the electric energy, the current syrian generating capacity is 4666 MW (938 is hydroelectric). Syria expects to consume 14.2% of its oil production to generate electricity. The article presents a table showing the production capacities of each electric establishment in Syria. Agriculture, industry and commerce consume respectively 35%, 7%, and 6% of the electric production. This shows that syrian electric production is consumed on the expense of productive sectors. The lecturer thinks that this may explains partially the syrian underdevelopment.

Taking in consideration the risk of oil deterioration, Syria tried in the 1980s to acquire the electro-nuclear resources (cheaper than traditional resources). But, the problem was not a technical one; the nuclear power has an economic and political dimension. Other energetic solutions exist in Syria as the solar power and wind power. The passive solar elements produced by the public establishment SOLOCO constitute the first experience to exploit this power. Unfortunately, Syria had not improved this experience because of the reshuffle in government and the private sector passive attitude...

Energetic sector in Syria is ruled within two ministries working separately. The ministry of petroleum and mineral resources focuses on upstream industries, downstream industries, oil and gas transport… Ministry of electricity concentrates on the generation and the distribution of electricity locally and abroad.

Graphics show the chaotic consumption of energy in Syria (47% is on behalf of householders). According to the lecturer, Syria lacks a national energetic policy. He treats the problem of the increasing consumption of electricity. And he analyses the risks of divergence between supply and demand, in addition to the probable consequences of price increases or blackout strategies on the lower class…

Using a relation between energetic consumption and GDP, the lecturer estimates that syrian consumption will be 34.5 million equivalent-tons in the year 2000.

Finally, he suggests upgrading the capacities of the decision takers in the energetic sector. He calls to assure the stabilization of managers in this sector, to use all financial and technical resources to develop the cooperation between Syrians, Arabs and Europeans, and to encourage the energetic research.

In his comments, Dr A.O.YOUSEF mentioned that among all resources, hydroelectric energy is the cleanest and the cheapest. Syria had the highest rate of rural region electrification (3.7 village a day between 1977 and 1983). He presents some suggestions to create multidisciplinary consulting body for energy, to pay attention to the human resources, to face illiteracy among employees, to adopt the information technology and to stop wasting.

In his comments, Dr.K.NAJI, he mentioned that the article did not analyze all energetic resources. Syria is facing environmental challenge (converting all electric stations into gas stations, electrifying the public transport vehicles: Metro), economic challenge (exploiting cheaper energetic alternatives: wind, solar energy…), and development challenge (preservation of power resources for future generations, greenhouse effect…).