Loon Latakia, a fully owned subsidiary of Kulczyk Oil Ventures, will begin drilling its first exploratory well in northwestern Syria this week. The oil company, controlled by Polish billionaire Jan Kulczyk, will start drilling Itheria-1 well in Block 9 by the end of this week, Ammar Nofal, regional director of Loon Latakia, said in a telephone interview in Damascus yesterday. \"The drilling rig is now on site,\" Nofal said. \"The drilling of the first well should be complete by mid-September and, shortly after that, we will start drilling the second well,\" he said. Itheria is estimated to contain reserves of 338 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to a statement issued by Kulczyk on June 8. Calgary-based Kulczyk Oil won the right to explore the block in 2007. It has a 70 per cent participating interest in the 10,032-square-kilometre site in northwest Syria. The Warsaw-listed company has agreements to assign 25 per cent in ownership interests to third parties, subject to the approval of the Syrian authorities, the company then said. Syria\'s oil reserves are the ninth-largest in the Middle East, according to data from BP and the country is trying to halt its declining crude output. Thirteen foreign companies, including Kulczyk, Total, Eni and China National Petroleum Corp, have submitted bids for exploration rights to eight onshore blocks covering 40 per cent of the country. Syria has also asked companies to submit bids for three offshore concessions by October 5. From / Gulf News