Syrian Kurds Sign Oil Contract with American Firm
Al-Monitor reported that the autonomous administration of northeastern Syria has inked a contract with a U.S. business for the marketing of crude oil, citing anonymous people with knowledge of the matter. Furthermore, the report claims that Washington approved the arrangement.
The majority of Syria’s oil reserves are found in the northeast, which is governed by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the opposition Syrian Democratic Forces, which has received backing from the United States during the protracted conflict.
Al-Monitor reported that a representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the United States affirmed that Delta Crescent Energy LLC made the agreement, but she withheld any other information.
The unidentified sources also informed Al-Monitor that two modular refineries to be supplied by the United States to northeastern Syria will meet a fifth of the needs of the oil-rich region. Currently, 60,000 barrels per day—roughly the majority of the oil produced in Syria—is refined in temporary facilities. The nation generated 380,000 bpd prior to the war.
Separately, Kurdistan 24 said that Senator Lindsay Graham had disclosed an agreement to modernize the oil fields controlled by the opposition group, which was made between the Syrian Democratic Forces and an American oil business. The Al-Monitor sources claim that this is the identical agreement that was finalized with Delta Crescent Energy.
During a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Graham said to Foreign Secretary Pompano, “I spoke with General Mailroom yesterday, with the SDF.” It appears that they have an agreement with a US oil company to update the oil reserves in northeastern Syria. Do you agree with that?
Pompano said, “The deal took a little longer than we had hoped,” indicating that the State Department was involved in the transaction’s completion. “We are now in implementation, and it can be very powerful,” he continued.
Following the announcement of more sanctions by Washington against the Syrian government under the so-called Caesar Act, the agreement was reached.
