Russia, Iran Share ‘US Oil’ in Northeast Syria

Arab World

January 3rd, 7:53am

London - Ibrahim Hamidi

Caption: A youth works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that new contracts were signed between Damascus and Russian and Iranian-backed companies allowing for oil and gas exploration and the development of strategic transport networks from west Iraq to west Syria on the Mediterranean Sea. Details of the contracts, which offer privileges to the firms, were revealed in documents exchanged between the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and companies owned by Mohammed Baraa Katerji, a prominent businessman on a Western sanctions list. The documents reveal plans allowing the companies establish a private oil refinery with a production capacity of 120,000 barrels of refined oil per day in the port of Tartous, near the Russian base. The firms would also develop an oil transport network to increase production to around 520,000 barrels per day, and be exempted from taxes. The signing of the deals coincided with a Syrian government approval of contracts for oil exploration with two Russian companies in an effort to boost production despite the fact that oil fields have largely been in the hands of Kurdish fighters who seized swathes of north and east Syria from ISIS with US help. Last month, the Syrian Parliament approved bills to establish two private companies operating in the field of oil refineries. The agreement was signed between the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and the General Organization for Refining and Distribution of Petroleum Products (GORDPP) as the first party, and Arvada and the Lebanese Sallizar Shipping SAL as the second party. A company affiliated with “Katerji Group,” was also part of these firms. The Syrian government has placed Baraa Katerji on its list of 50 figures representing Damascus in the constitutional committee that began its meetings in November to introduce constitutional reforms.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2064431/russia-iran-share-%E2%80%98us-oil%E2%80%99-northeast-syria