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Page added on July 25, 2013
Who controls Syria’s oil?
With oil reserves divided between government and opposition, we discuss the role of natural resources in Syria’s war.
The international demand for Syrian oil was once high but the global embargo has changed all that – now one of the country’s most invaluable assets is being squandered in the name of war.
With all the fighting that continues daily, one thing that often goes unreported is who controls the country’s oil and gas.
Syria is a minor oil producer on the global scene. It accounts for less than one percent of the world’s output, but petroleum from the oilfields of Deir az-Zor province has been a vital export component for the country.
Syria’s oil and gas fields are concentrated mostly in the lightly populated east and northeast of the country.
A network of pipelines connects them with the main population centres to the west and any interruption to the supply means millions of people go without power.
It once represented a billion-dollar industry that accounted for more than 25 percent of the country’s economic output.
But after more than two years of civil war, the oil and gas fields are now being fought over by the government and between rival rebel groups. Today, production has fallen by 95 percent.
The rebel al-Nusra Front is active there doing deals with local tribes and controlling as many oilfields as it can, but several remain with unclear ownership and that has allowed an illicit trade to flourish.
So chaotic is the situation in some places that the Assad government and the rebels have reportedly done deals with each other to allow both sides access to oil or gas.
The challenge for the coalition is going to be how does it manage to persuade these private individuals or groups or those Salafists to hand over these wells. And that is what is unclear given the fact the coalition does not really have the sort of military power or influence on the ground to enforce such a decision.
Amr al-Azm, an associate professor at Shawnee State University
The European Union import ban on Syrian oil and petroleum products was imposed in September 2011.
But in April of this year, the EU decided member states could support the Syrian opposition.
According to the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the 27-member bloc approved three types of transactions with Syria.
They involve imports of oil and petroleum products; exports of equipment and technology for the oil and gas industry, and investments in that industry.
The Syrian government has taken aim at the EU’s decision to lift the oil embargo for the rebels’ benefit.
The foreign ministry said: “Neither the EU nor any other party has the right to take any measures that would affect the state’s sovereign rights over their national resources.
The EU countries have gone even beyond that to allow the possibility of investing these resources in favour of one group that claims to be an opposition and represent the Syrian people while it actually represents no one by its masters and their interests that are connected to foreign sides.”
How relevant is Syria’s oil in the conflict? Will oil become the fault line in the country’s civil war?
In this edition of Inside Syria, with presenter Hazem Sika, we are joined by guests: Anas al-Abdah, a member of the political office for the Syrian National Coalition; Gearoid O Colmain, an independent political analyst; and Amr al-Azm, an associate professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University.
11 Comments on "Who controls Syria’s oil?"
Arthur on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 5:02 pm
Western fools on both side of the Atlantic have slowly come to their dull senses and decided that handing over Syria to jihadist forces could be detrimental to their Israel pet. Too bad they found that out themselves. So the new strategy by the western hooligans now seems to be to fragment the country into pieces:
http://www.infowars.com/rand-paul-slams-obamas-plans-for-military-involvement-in-syria/
But it is all futile; I would not allow the zionist strategists behind this Clean Break policy to mawn my lawn, simply because of too low IQ.
Let’s face it: Syria is history, too many killed already for reconciliation to be possible. The borders of all these countries are a leftover of European colonial empires, notably the French and the British (keyword Sykes-Picot). ALL these countries are going to be wiped out in the coming decade or so: Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, Emirates, Qatar. And the laughing third is going to be Turkey. And Iran.
What’s next?
Caliphate (Istanbul, Cairo, Damascus) + Shi’ite super power around the Gulf (Teheran + Bagdad). Both run by the fundamentalist versions of the two flavours of Islam. And Israel will be totally surrounded by fundamentalists who could not care less about being called an ‘antisemite’.
So here is the new task for the zionist losers: figure out where the next Israel is going to be:
1) Israel as a neo-Ottoman province (Islamic run Spain could serve as a precedent case)
2) Madagaskar, politely advocated by Dolfie, but was never taken serious for some mysterious reason (fabulous beaches, nice climate, no muslims, fascists, Germans, what have you)
3) Some vacant place in the US: bottom of the Grand Canyon, north coast Alaska, Upstate New York.
DC on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 5:44 pm
But, but Arthur, you must surely be aware the ‘jihadists’ all work for the US State Dept? What after all, are amerikas favorite GCC satraps but just better dressed versions of a jihadist from a generation or two back? Amerikas corporate terrorists NEVER work through so-called ‘moderates’ or ‘democrats’ When amerika wants someone else to do its dirty work, the ‘jihadists’ are the goto guys. And these ‘jihadists’ know which side their bread is buttered on. Most of them leave Israel alone. Sure the odd one makes noises or blows something up. But even that is useful since it helps justify the jewish terror states own crimes and actions-to its own citizens at least.US-backed ‘Jihadists’ preform a valuable service to both the uS and Israeli parties by keeping the fear factor alive and kicking.
Arthur on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 6:39 pm
“But, but Arthur, you must surely be aware the ‘jihadists’ all work for the US State Dept?”
Yes, I know! But that does not mean the McJihadists will eat from the hand that fed them, once they have achieved their objective: the Caliphate. Washington initially, via their London proxy (as we know from Roland dumas), wanted to achieve regime change in Damascus, just to deprive Iran/SCO of an ally (after which Iran would be next), without US boots on the ground (because of desastrous results in the past everywhere). It was again this idiotic idea, already failed in Iraq, to attempt to turn Syria in a satellite, like Mubarak-Egypt or Saudi-Arabia and Jordan. But the Jihadists could not care less about their Caliphate becoming a satellite of the christian-zionist infidel. They gladly let themselves be supplied by the Great Satan to get rid of the secular-multiculti Assad regime. That motivation finally began to dawn in the dull brains of the Clouseaus in the Washington zionist think tanks. Essentially the US is now without a strategy in the Middle-East. And in the long run they will achieve exactly the opposite of what they set out to do.
Arthur on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 7:31 pm
The behavior of Erdogan and Morsi in the ‘Syrian question’ and the US response illustrates perfectly what is really going on in the ME. The Americans got very nervous from the **SUPPORT** they got from Erdogan and Morsi for their Syrian operation, and the main reason why the US secretly gave the green light to the Egyptian military for the coup was to stop Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood becoming too powerful in the ME. The US wants to bring down Assad and remove Syrie from the Iranian/SCO camp, nothing more. They certainly do not want a MB takeover of Syria, giving them (Turkey, Syria and Egypt together) enough critical mass to take over the rest of the ME. But it is probably already too late, the cat is out of the bag. Rand Paul is correct when he says that the US are now merely interested in a stalemate (see infowars link first post), no longer in the downfall of Assad.
GregT on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 10:18 pm
The US is only doing what they have been told to do. The age old game is still very much alive, and well. Divide and conquer, it is the oldest trick in the book.
Arthur on Thu, 25th Jul 2013 10:31 pm
It is not going well at all for those who tell the US what to do. How are we going to bring it to them that their century is over?
Arthur on Sat, 27th Jul 2013 8:44 am
Obama recently refused to meet Syrian rebels. Kerry only agreed to meet with a delegation in NY the other day, just because he happened to be in the neighbourhood. It is becoming more obvious by the day that the US has second thoughts about their Syrian operation and that US interest is best served by keeping Syria in a state of a mess, cynical as it may sound. Meanwhile ‘rebels’ are defecting back to the government:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10198632/Syria-disillusioned-rebels-drift-back-to-take-Assad-amnesty.html
For the neo-communist West (NWO) this is a lose-lose situation and the US government has decided that keeping Assad in power is the lesser evil, compared to a MB take-over of the entire Middle-East, which would spell the beginning of the end of Israel. For the moment the champagne bottles can be opened in Teheran… oh wait, these folks don’t drink.
But I think it is very difficult to keep a stalemate situation in place for a very long time. If the rebels know they can’t win they will give up. Expect all the foreign mercenaries to return to the Caucasus, Europe, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Next Assad can be trusted to ‘discipline’ a couple of ten thousand into the grave, just like his father had done to thirty thousand insurgents with an attitude. Maybe next year the Islamic pipeline is going to be build after all, bypassing Turkey/Nabucco. And yet another strategic defeat for the US lead West (not necessarily for Europe, that will get even more gas on offer). Israel will be more isolated than ever. Egypt will continue to brew and the MB will take over garanteed at the first sign that the US no longer can or wants to support the military. All the signs in the ME points towards a fundamentalist takeover in the long run, even of the Assad regime.
dave thompson on Sat, 27th Jul 2013 9:09 am
Syria is all about OIL. Who controls the oil wins!
Arthur on Sat, 27th Jul 2013 1:08 pm
There is hardly oil
in the Syrian soil.
(that rhymes)
The initiative to attempt to bring down Assad had two reasons:
1) bring down an ally of Iran/SCO
2) prevent the ‘Islamic (gas) Pipeline’ from happening.
It looks like that both objectives will fail in the mid term.
After the Clean Breakers gave it a hard thought (normally you that do before you undertake action) they decided that it was not such a good idea after all.
Game, set and match Moscow-Tehran.
Temporary setback for the Caliphate.
Another blow for US-UK prestige, which is good news for all those who plan for regime change in Washington (crushing AIPAC, NSA, CIA, MIC, Homeland Security, opening up WW2 archives, setting up 9/11 & JFK & Iraq tribunals, halting illegal mass immigration, restoring the Constitution and prepare for a provisional government with RP, PB, PCR, JV, Snowdon, Richard Gage, etc.).
Arthur on Sun, 28th Jul 2013 11:44 am
The British MSM are waking up to the new situation:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10199913/Assad-endures.html
“Assad endures
As President Assad looks increasingly confident, Britain, France and the US look weak… it now seems increasingly likely that, far from being forced from office, President Assad will retain control of much of the country… The rebels’ cause, meanwhile, has been undermined by constant infighting and attempts by Islamist militants to hijack the opposition agenda;… Faced with the awful complexities of the Syrian insurrection, the West collectively decided that the costs of intervention were too high. That may well have been the right decision… With President Assad and his backers in Moscow and Tehran looking increasingly confident, those powers that demanded his overthrow – such as Britain, France and the US – look impotent and weak.”
Continental Europe (i.e Germany + surrounding countries) should draw conclusions from this debacle. Without estranging us too much from Washington, we continental Europeans should silently applaud this development and prepare for the Islamic gas pipeline from happening and drop Nabucco altogether, which increases our energy options during the renewable energy transition, which all European governments (even London) already have decided upon and is currently underway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_gas_fields
The Pars field btw is 6 times larger than the second largest gasfield in the world.
Arthur on Sun, 28th Jul 2013 11:45 am
The British MSM are waking up to the new situation:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10199913/Assad-endures.html
“Assad endures
As President Assad looks increasingly confident, Britain, France and the US look weak… it now seems increasingly likely that, far from being forced from office, President Assad will retain control of much of the country… The rebels’ cause, meanwhile, has been undermined by constant infighting and attempts by Islamist militants to hijack the opposition agenda;… Faced with the awful complexities of the Syrian insurrection, the West collectively decided that the costs of intervention were too high. That may well have been the right decision… With President Assad and his backers in Moscow and Tehran looking increasingly confident, those powers that demanded his overthrow – such as Britain, France and the US – look impotent and weak.”
Continental Europe (i.e Germany + surrounding countries) should draw conclusions from this debacle. Without estranging us too much from Washington, we continental Europeans should silently applaud this development and prepare for the Islamic gas pipeline from happening and drop Nabucco altogether, which increases our energy options during the renewable energy transition, which all European governments (even London) already have decided upon and is currently underway.
wikipedia List_of_natural_gas_fields
The Pars field btw is 6 times larger than the second largest gasfield in the world.