Abstract
The main purpose of this chapter is evaluating the existing situation in the Syrian hydrocarbon sector in the early 2020s; its regional position mostly from the economic and geopolitical points of view, direct and indirect influence of the principal external and regional actors on the sector—Russia, the US, Iran, Iraq and to some extent Turkey—as well as these actors interests, means and issues in the realization of their goals. It pays extra attention to some contradicting trends like increased US activities in supporting SDF’s control over the largest part of Syrian oil potential and securing the financial flows from its exploitation despite the general withdrawal of American military forces from northeastern Syria since October 2019. At the same time, the chapter also underlines new problems emerging from much more active and direct Russian presence in the region which is also connected to its attempts to access oil fields. In early 2020, it inevitably caused direct contact and tensions between American and Russian regular troops in Syria for the first time since the Russian military’s involvement in the Syrian conflict (Tsvetana Paraskova, “US, Russian Forces Face Off Near Syria’s Oilfields”, Oilprice, 27 January 2020, https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Russian-Forces-Face-Off-Near-Syrias-Oilfields.html).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019,” BP p.l.c., accessed 12 November 2019, https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2019-full-report.pdf.
- 2.
Vanand Meliksetian, “What Happens To Syrian Oil Post-Civil War?” Oilprice.com., 08 November 2018, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/What-Happens-To-Syrian-Oil-Post-Civil-War.html.
- 3.
C. Todd Lopez, “Syrian Democratic Forces Reap Benefit From Oil Money,” U.S. Department of Defence, 07 November 2019, https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/Article/2011873/syrian-democratic-forces-reap-benefit-from-oil-money/.
- 4.
“Syria war: Who benefits from its oil production?” BBC News, 21 November 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/50464561
- 5.
Vanand Meliksetian, “Blood, Oil And Gas: 7 Years Of Syrian Civil War,” 13 February 2018, https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Blood-Oil-And-Gas-7-Years-Of-Syrian-Civil-War.html.
- 6.
Herman Wang and Brian Scheid, “Iran militias revive Islamic State oil trade into Syria from Iraq: sources,” S&P Global Platts, 24 December 2019, https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/122419-iran-militias-revive-islamic-state-oil-trade-into-syria-from-iraq-sources.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
“The World Factbook. Middle East. Syria,” Central Intelligence Agency, updated 13 January 2020, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html.
- 9.
Justin Higginbottom, “Why Syria’s small oil reserves have become the linchpin for political control in the region”, updated 13 December, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/syrian-oil-reserves-now-the-linchpin-for-political-control-in-region.html.
- 10.
Karam Shaar, “The Syrian Oil Crisis: Causes, Possible Responses, and Implications”, The Middle East Institute, Wash., August 2019, Policy Paper 2019-17, p. IV, 1, https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2019-08/The%20Syrian%20Oil%20Crisis.pdf.
- 11.
Suleiman Al-Khalidi, “Syrian pound hits new lows over regional tensions—traders”, Reuters, 13 January 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/syria-economy-pound/syrian-pound-hits-new-lows-over-regional-tensions-traders-idUSL8N29I5PO.
- 12.
“Syria Update. Weekly Political, Economic and Security Outlook”, Center for Operational Analysis and Research (COAR), 13 January 2020, vol. 3, No. 2, p. 8, https://coar-global.org/download/48341/.
- 13.
Gary K. Busch, “Syria’s oil, gas and water – the Immiscible Solution to the War in Syria”, 16 May, 2019, https://limacharlienews.com/mena/syria-oil-gas-war-in-syria/.
- 14.
Justin Higginbottom, op. cit.
- 15.
Anadolu Agency, “US troops block Russian forces from reaching oil field in Hasakah, Syria,” 19 January 2020, http://www.anews.com.tr/middle-east/2020/01/19/us-troops-block-russian-forces-from-reaching-oil-field-in-hasakah-syria.
- 16.
Sirwan Kajjo, “Russia Seeks to Build Local Force in Northeast Syria”, Voice of America, 19 December 2019, https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/russia-seeks-build-local-force-northeast-syria.
- 17.
Jeanne Gobat and Kristina Kostial, “Syria’s Conflict Economy”, IMF Working Paper, Wash., June 2016, p. 20, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16123.pdf.
- 18.
Viktor Katona, “Russia is Taking over Syria’s Oil and Gas”, oilprice, 14 February 2018, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Russia-Is-Taking-Over-Syrias-Oil-And-Gas.html.
- 19.
“Russia Plans to Help Syria Rebuild Devastated Oil, Power Industries”, 14 February 2018, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-plans-help-syria-rebuild-devastated-oil-gas-power-facilities-novak/29038665.html.
- 20.
Viktor Katona, op.cit.
- 21.
“EU response to the Syrian crisis. Annex—Restrictive Measures on SYRIA”, European Union External Action, Bruxelles, 08 March 2019, Factsheets, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/22664/eu-and-crisis-syria-factsheet_en.
- 22.
Viktor Katona, op. cit.
- 23.
Simon Watkins, “Russia Strengthens Its Grip On Syrian Oil”, oilprice, 22 December 2019, https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Strengthens-Its-Grip-On-Syrian-Oil.html.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Simon Watkins, “Russia Capitalizes On America’s Thinly Stretched Middle East Focus”, oilprice, 16 September 2019, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Russia-Capitalizes-On-Americas-Thinly-Stretched-Middle-East-Focus.html.
- 26.
Kinda Makieh and Ellen Francis, “Syria hands oil exploration contracts to two Russian firms”, Reuters, 17 December 2019, https://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N28R1O0.
- 27.
“ООО « Меркурий » —строительная компания” (in Russian), accessed 22 January 2020, http://ooo-merkury.ru/.
- 28.
“Russia to Spend $500mn on its Syria Port in Tartus: Deputy PM”, Russia Business Today, 17 December 2019, https://russiabusinesstoday.com/economy/russia-to-spend-500mn-on-its-syria-port-in-tartus-deputy-pm; RBC 17 December 2019, https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/5df8b71a9a794780a3656832.
- 29.
Viktor Katona, op. cit.
- 30.
“Russia, Iran Share ‘US Oil’ in Northeast Syria”, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 3 January 2020, https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2064431/russia-iran-share-%E2%80%98us-oil%E2%80%99-northeast-syria.
- 31.
Omar Moradi, “Who will control Syria’s oil and gas?” Rudaw Net, 14 November 2019, https://www.rudaw.net/english/analysis/13112019.
- 32.
“Is Iraq Too Risky For Oil Majors?” Rystad Energy, accessed 17 January 2020, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-Iraq-Too-Risky-For-Oil-Majors.html.
- 33.
“Rosneft to receive first 600,000 barrels of Kurdistan’s oil”, TASS (Russian News Agency), 06 April 2017, https://tass.com/economy/939795.
- 34.
Mariya Petkova, “What did Russia get from its KRG gamble?” Al Jazeera, 15 April 2019, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/russia-krg-gamble-rosneft-iraq-kurdistan-190409123038460.html.
- 35.
“Iran to build oil refinery in Syria—Fars news agency”, Reuters, 26 September 2017, https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL8N1M747A.
- 36.
Sami Moubayed, “Syria leases Mediterranean port to Iran”, Asia Times, 05 April 2019, https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/04/article/syria-leases-mediterranean-port-to-iran-raising-alarms/.
- 37.
“Syria Leases Latakia Port to Iran”, South Front, 05 April 2019, https://southfront.org/syria-leases-latakia-port-to-iran.
- 38.
Sami Moubayed, op. cit.
- 39.
Paul Cochrane, “The ‘Pipelineistan’ conspiracy: The war in Syria has never been about gas”, Middle East Eye, 16 April 2018, https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/pipelineistan-conspiracy-war-syria-has-never-been-about-gas.
- 40.
“Moscow rejects offer to drop Assad for arms deal”, Ynetnews, 08 September 2013, https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4415701,00.html.
- 41.
Paul Cochrane, ibid.
- 42.
Tsvetana Paraskova, “Qatar Could Lose Spot As World’s Top LNG Exporter”, Oilprice, 26 August 2019, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Qatar-Could-Lose-Spot-As-Worlds-Top-LNG-Exporter.html.
- 43.
Calculated from “BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019”.
- 44.
“US forces block Russian convoy for fourth time in 8 days amid tension over Syrian oil fields”, Daily Sabah, Istanbul, Updated 26 January 2020, https://www.dailysabah.com/syrian-crisis/2020/01/26/us-forces-block-russian-convoy-for-fourth-time-in-8-days-amid-tension-over-syrian-oil-fields.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kukushkin, V. (2021). Syria and Hydrocarbons: Present and Prospective Politico-Economic Issues. In: Khatib, D. (eds) The Syrian Crisis. Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5050-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5050-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-5049-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-5050-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)