Petroleum industry in Syria
[6] Another important consortium is Deir Ez Zor Petroleum Company, owned by SPC and France's Total.
[9] Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
[5] Although Syria produces relatively modest quantities of oil and gas, its location is strategic in terms of regional security and prospective energy transit routes.
[citation needed] Menhall was just commencing preparations to drill the adjoining Rumeilan oil field (with over 500 million barrels of reserves) when, on 5 October 1958, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, as President of the United Arab Republic, expropriated Menhall's concession and confiscated his equipment and three drilling rigs without compensation.
Before the imposition of EU sanctions, Syrian crude oil exports went mostly to the European Union, in particular Germany, Italy, and France, totaling an estimated 137,400 bbl/d (21,840 m3/d) in 2009, according to Eurostat.
[citation needed] During the civil war, the self-declared state of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) controlled most oil fields in eastern Syria starting from 2013, in which they smuggled the oil located in Deir ez-Zor province outside Syria by producing 34,000–40,000 barrels per day (bpd).
[27] A CNN News report has showed that a company known as Delta Crescent Energy Company, which was formed by James Cain, a former US ambassador to Denmark, James Reese, a retired Delta Force Army officer, and John Dorrier, a veteran oil executive, was formed for the purpose of securing an oil contract in Syria and had worked with the U.S. State Department.
In April 2020, the company received a license from the Treasury Department exempting it from the sanctions the US has placed on Syria in order to isolate the Syrian government.
The SPC directly controls about half of the country's oil production and takes a 50% stake in development work with foreign partners.
[11] A major challenge for the natural gas industry is logistics: reserves are located mainly in northeastern Syria, whereas the population is concentrated in the west and south.
[40] In 2005, Norwegian Wavefield Inseis conducted seismic surveys off Syria's Eastern Mediterranean coast, the subsequent report which was published in 2011 by French company CGGVeritas, showed "encouraging results" of oil and gas reserves in the Syrian territorial waters.
[41] In May 2007, Syria's Ministry of Oil and Mineral Reserves introduced four offshore sectors for exploration, yet the British company Dove Energy Limited application was declined, as it was without competition.
[41] In 2010, a US Geological Survey had already estimated 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the whole Levantine Basin.
[42] In March 2011, Ministry of Oil and Mineral Reserves presented another four offshore blocks with an area of 7,750 square kilometres (2,990 sq mi) for exploration, however, the political situation deterred companies from utilizing the opportunity.
[41] In December 2013, Soyuzneftegaz signed a deal with the Syrian government to explore, drill, develop and produce oil and gas in Block 2 with an area of 2,977 square kilometres (1,149 sq mi) off Syria's coast.
In August 2017, an amendment to the contract was approved, to include Russian company East Med Amrit S.A., a sub-company of Soyuzneftegaz.
[46] In March 2021, Russian company, Capital Limited, and the Syrian government represented by the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, signed a contract to grant the Russian company the exclusive rights to explore natural oil and gas in Block 1 in the eastern Mediterranean with an area of 2,250 square kilometres (870 sq mi) off the coast of Tartus to the southern Syrian-Lebanese maritime borders.
