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MEOG Commentary MEOG
Syrian gas fields come
back on-stream but
situation remains dire
Gas fields in Syria have come back into operation, but the country remains at war with itself as well as foreign and domestic extremists, while global powers jostle for influence over what emerges from the embers.
syria
What:
The country’s oil and
gas production has been decimated by the ongoing conflict and the news of progress is something of a hollow victory.
Why:
Output has been increasing at the central oilfields, which were previously held by ISIS militants, though this too has led to conflict and allegations of illegal activity.
What next:
Moscow’s interest in Syria has deeper roots than that of the US and, with the unwavering support of Assad, Russian companies are likely to benefit from any return
of commercial stability to the country.
SyRIa’S Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said this week that two of the coun- try’s gas fields had come back into operation.
In a statement to press, the ministry said: “Local specialists in record time ... provided 1mn cubic metres of gas by putting into oper- ation and connecting to the common network of the Sharifah-2 and Sharifah-104 fields east of Homs.”
It noted the country’s growing gas demand and added that connecting the fields to the gas network had taken 15 days. “This additional amount of gas is expected to have a positive effect on electricity supply,” it said.
In October, the head of al-Saura Field Man- agement, ali Ibrahim, was quoted as saying that recovery work had begun at oil and gas fields in Raqqa Province and in the area between Raqqa, Hama and Homs.
Russia’s Sputnik cited the ministry as saying in September that Syrian oilfield workers had returned the Eastern arak-2 gas field in Homs Province to operation. It noted that Syrian gov- ernment troops supported by Russian forces had
recaptured the gas field in 2017, with the asset prducing around 175.3 cubic metres per day of gas.
syrian strife
Syria’s hydrocarbons sector was put to the sword first by the country’s seemingly endless civil conflict, then by the spread of ISIS, with oil production having dropped by more than 400,000 barrels per day from a pre-conflict level of 440,000 bpd.
The central and eastern regions that con- tain the bulk of the oilfields remain contentious amid US, Russian, Iranian and Turkish interest in bringing their own version of ‘stability’ to the area.
High-profile allegations have been made against Turkish officials for collaborating with militants to export and sell crude, while US President Donald Trump spoke in October of american troops “keep[ing] the oil” when they were sent to protect Syrian oilfields.
a broad deal is understood to remain in place between the government of Bashar al-assad and
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Week 50 18•December•2019