RIGA, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - The first oil wells could start functioning this fall in Latvia's Kuldiga District, where geological prospecting is currently underway, a Latvian newspaper reported Wednesday.

According to research conducted long ago in the Soviet Union, there could be oil reserves in the western Latvian province.

The Russian-language Chas newspaper said Latvian company Alina will deal with geological prospecting and installation of drilling equipment, which will enable the production of a mere 1.5 tons (11 bbl) of crude a month, but this does not stop potential investors.

The next step in developing Latvian oil deposits could be drilling and geological prospecting on the Baltic Sea shelf.

The small ex-Soviet state, which joined the European Union three years ago, has estimated crude reserves of 100 million barrels onshore and 360 million barrels offshore. This volume would satisfy the world's oil needs for only five days, but it could provide for Latvia's daily 40,000-bbl demands for 30 years. Experts assess the capacity of ground and sea-based wells at 10,000-15,000 bbl/d.