China and Syrian opened their first joint oil venture, Sino-Syrian Kawkab Oil Company (SSKOC) in Damascus Monday, to develop an old oil field in the northeast of Syria, nearly 600 km away from Damascus.

China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC) won the rebuilding project of the Gbeibe oil field in 2001 after competitive bidding with the companies from United States, Canada and Russia.

The CNODC and the Syrian Oil Company held 50-50 percent of the share of the joint company respectively.

"This was a good beginning in oil cooperation between the two countries," Syrian Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Ibrahim Haddad told Xinhua on the opening ceremony.

He expressed the hope that joint cooperation in this regard would further developed.

Syria has a relatively abundant oil reserve and its oil production reaches 500,000 barrels per day. Two-fifths of the production goes to local market while the other serves international demand, Haddad said.

He noted that Syria's oil strategy is to attract wide international cooperation and set up more joint companies so as to find new oil fields and develop old ones.

Zhou Jiping, vice president of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which is the parent company of the CNODC, also showed optimism in the Sino-Syrian oil cooperation.

The Gbeibe project, although not large enough in scale, would deepen and broaden the cooperation between China and Syria, he said, adding advanced technologies and successful experiences of the CNODC would ensure a large improvement in the output of local oil fields.

Chinese Ambassador to Syria Zhou Xiuhua, Director General of the Syrian Oil Company Ahmed Mula and dozens of other senior officials from both sides attended the opening ceremony.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2004)