Choosing the American Chevron for the first Syrian oil and gas exploration project

The Syrian Petroleum Company said on Monday that Syria has identified a maritime site for its first deep-water oil and gas exploration project in Syrian territorial waters, in cooperation with the giant American company Chevron and the Qatari company UCC Holding.

This project represents part of a larger effort by the new Syrian government to attract foreign investment into the energy sector, which has been severely damaged after years of civil war and sanctions.

The state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company said that, in cooperation with Chevron and UCC Holding, it had completed the work of defining the marine area, paving the way for the completion of the signing of contracts and the start of technical operations during the summer.

Chevron signed a preliminary agreement in February with the Syrian Petroleum Company and UCC Holding Company to evaluate oil and gas exploration opportunities in Syrian waters, in a step that represents the American company’s first entry into the energy sector off the Syrian coast in the eastern Mediterranean.