GSPC-Essar bids for oil block in Syria

A consortium of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GPSC) and Mumbai-based Essar Group has bid for an oil and gas exploration block in Syria.

Syria had offered seven onshore oil and gas blocks in the latest auction, and a 50:50 joint venture of GSPC and Essar Exploration and Production has submitted a bid for Block XIV last month, sources in GSPC said.

This is the first time GSPC and Essar have bid together for an oil property abroad. While GSPC has seven oil and gas blocks in Yemen, Egypt and Australia, Essar holds interest in five fields in Myanmar, Madagascar and Nigeria.

The sources said GSPC has won three out of four blocks it had bid recently in Yemen. GSPC, which is the operator with 45% stake, and its partners Jubilant Enpro (30%) and Alkor Petro (25%) won blocks 19, 28 and 57.

In Egypt, GSPC has interest in offshore block number six (N-HAPY) and onshore block number eight (S-DIYUR) in partnership with Alkor Petro and GeoGlobal Resources. It also has three blocks in Australia with Oilex and Videocon.

Essar recently won an offshore oil block 226 in Nigeria with reserves of up to 80 million barrels. It also has 100% stake in two exploration blocks L (on-land) and A-2 (offshore) in Myanmar.