A new oil map loomed in Syria, through which the Syrian regime recovered most of the wells it lost during the revolution. Russian companies began drilling for oil in Syrian territory. The regime also reached a new agreement with the Kurds to share the oil wealth.
The forces of the regime with the "Syrian Democratic Forces" - controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units - signed an agreement to exchange 100 barrels of oil extracted daily from the oil field in Deir al-Zour, the largest in Syria, compared to 75 barrels of diesel oil. Canadian oil pipeline maintenance service in Kurdish control areas in exchange for oil.
According to local sources, the route of the oil transfer will start from the old and tinker fields under the Syrian democratic forces to the field of Taym in the south of Deir al-Zour and from there to the Homs refinery in central Syria. The gas transmission line will start from the fields of life, In Deir Al-Zour, to the thermal "Gender" station in Homs.
| Al-Ayed: Oil is a powerful leaf in the hands of the Kurds (Al-Jazeera) |
The Syrian writer Abdel Nasser al-Ayed said that the Kurdish forces and the organization of the Islamic State used the oil sheet to serve their own projects, while the system benefited by buying it at low prices.
Al-Ayed added that oil is still a strong card in the hands of the Kurds to negotiate with the regime and collect a special status for them, but that paper will remain the subject of conflict between the two parties, especially with US efforts to push the region to negotiate uniformly Arabs and Kurds.
Settlement with the system
After a meeting of a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces Council with representatives of the regime in Damascus, the Council said that it was agreed to draw a road map leading to "decentralized democratic Syria," in a clear direction of the Kurds towards a federal settlement with the regime, If Syria's democratic forces refused negotiations.
The military analyst Ahmad Hamadeh said that the negotiations conducted by the regime with the Kurds are what the Russians want and the system to provide material amounts to complete their projects, so that the exchange of oil for some of the advantages of these forces, "after I realized that it is a paper in the hands of its operators.
Hamadeh added that Syria's democratic forces are seeking some gains. At times they are allied with the Russians and others with the United States. Today, they are offering their guns to the regime in Idlib and Suwayda.
| Kurds control most of Syrian oil production (Al Jazeera) |
Oil contracts
Moscow has signed several contracts with the Syrian regime for oil and gas exploration in Tartous (West) and for extracting phosphates in the eastern mines of Palmyra. It appears that the Iranians did not have a share in the oil to replace it with commercial and economic contracts with the regime, while the Americans did not show interest in Syrian oil , Says Ayed.
"The research confirmed the availability of gas fields off the coast, and this is what Russia is seeking, so they came to harvest the fruit of their fixation of the Assad regime," Hamadeh said.
About 70% of Syria's oil and water resources are under the control of Syria's democratic forces, including the most important oil and gas fields, as well as water resources such as the Euphrates and Tshreen rivers, prompting regime officials to repeatedly assert the need to regain control of the region.