Oil Minister: Syria turned from an oil producer into an oil importer because of the foreign-backed terrorist war and sanctions

Before the crisis, Syria was an oil producer and it used to export the surplus of its production to other countries. Oil was one of the biggest supporters of the national economy. However, the foreign-backed terrorist war which has been waged on Syria over the past ten years has turned the country into an oil importer, according to Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Basam Toumeh.

During a dialogue session with Syrian journalists on Tuesday, the minister said that the costs of the oil imports have become very high because of the sanctions imposed on Syria by western countries and thus, oil has turned into a burden on the state treasury, as imports need hard currency.

He pointed out that 95 % of oil reserves are located in Syria’s eastern region. These resources are being looted by the US occupation and its backed SDF militia who control most of the oil-rich areas in this region.

 He stressed that had it not been for the US occupation, the oil sector would have remained an energy supporter in Syria, pointing out that the climate has become part of the energy strategy.

He went on to say that Syria’s loss of gas is estimated at 2 billion cubic meters due to the US-led coalition airstrikes on oil–rich areas.

He pointed out that there is a plan to increase oil production. This plan includes a contract with BC Company for drilling in the Jibseh area in Syria’s eastern region.

Syria has also signed direct import deals and activated the credit line with Iran to secure the country’s oil needs as much as possible.

Arab Gas line

The minister indicated that gas production has declined by 8% due to the vandalism to which the gas wells have been exposed as a result of terrorism as well as the bombardment of the US occupation forces.

He clarified that Syria’s share of the Arab Gas line is no more than 10-15% and the government can’t count on this percentage to compensate for the shortage in electricity. He pointed out that “we are unable to reach the main fields east of the Euphrates River because of the occupation, although these fields used to secure Syria’s need of gas by 11 million cubic meters.”

In addition, the minister said that maintaining oil production needs continuous excavation, noting that only five excavators out of 40 are working, because of terrorism and the US occupation strikes.

For the past ten years, we didn’t conduct any excavations for oil, he added, affirming the need to diversify the sources of energy.

Hamda Mustafa