RusEnergy

06.12.2005 MosNews - On Monday, Dec. 5, Russia and Syria signed two major gas industry contracts worth $370 million. The contract signing took place in Damascus. The first contract presupposes construction of a 324 kilometer-long section of the pipeline that will run from the Syrian-Jordanian border to ar-Rayan, 160 kilometers north of Damascus. The Russian company Stroitrangaz, the main contractor of Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom, won the contract to design and lay this section of the pipeline. The price of this part of the contract is about $160 million. The second contract, also signed by Stroitransgaz, presupposes construction of a gas processing plant near the town of Palmyra, where three large gas deposits are located. Both projects are set to be implemented in little less than two years.