Syria exports the first shipment of crude oil in 14 years

A Syrian official in the energy sector told Reuters that Syria has exported 600,000 barrels of heavy crude oil from Tartous Port in the framework of a deal with a commercial company, which is the first official export operations known to Syrian oil in 14 years.

Syria exported 380 thousand barrels of oil per day in 2010, a year before the protests against Bashar al -Assad’s rule turned into a war that lasted nearly 14 years that destroyed the country’s economy and infrastructure, including crude oil production.

In December last year, the Assad was overthrown, and the government, which came to power after him, pledged to revive the Syrian economy.

Riad Jobasi, assistant director of the General Oil and Gas Department at the Syrian Ministry of Energy, told Reuters that it was the company Bard Energy that bought heavy crude oil. The company is connected to the B. B. Energy, a global oil trade company.

The Syrian Ministry of Energy said in a written statement that the oil was exported on the carrier, “Nisus Christiana”.

Jobasi stated that oil was extracted from several Syrian fields, but he did not specify them.

Most Syrian oil fields are located in the northeast of the country inside areas controlled by the Kurdish authorities. These authorities began providing the central government in Damascus with oil in February, but relations have been deteriorated since then due to concerns about excluding some of the spectrum of society and minority rights, including the Kurds.

Control of oil fields has moved several times during the Syrian war, and US and European sanctions increased the difficulty of legitimate export and import operations.

The sanctions remained valid for several months after the overthrow of the lion, which made the import of the new Syrian energy administration difficult.

But after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order last June to lift US sanctions imposed on Syria, companies that are taking the United States began to develop a major plan to help explore and extract oil and gas in Syria.

Syria also signed a $ 800 million understanding note with DB and Rred to develop, manage and operate a multi -purpose station in Tartous, after Syria canceled a contract with a Russian company that was running the port during the Assad era.