Money matters bulletin

Regional stock market indices Regional currency rates Syria to build oil refinery and Damascus metro Syria has completed preliminary steps toward implementing an estimated $3.5 billion refinery project. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, the refinery is a joint venture between Malaysia’s Al Bukhari Group and the governments of Syria, Iran and Venezuela. The plant, located in the Al Farkalas region east of Homs, will have a processing capacity of 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said the ministry planned to produce some 2 billion barrels of oil from 2009 to 2025 and provide around 160 billion cubic meters of clean gas to consumers in the electricity, transport, industry and petroleum sectors. In other news, Damascus is planning to construct a four line metro system. The “green line” will be the first project implemented, at a cost of $1.35 billion,