Page 7 - MEOG Week 03 2021

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Syria to import fuel as

shortages continue

SYRIA SYRIA this week said that it would resort to north-east of the country that are now under
importing more crude oil as US sanctions on the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic
Iran continue to cause supply issues. Force (SDF).
Speaking to Parliament, Prime Minister Hus- The SDF brought the Tanak oilfield back on
sein Arnous did not indicate the planned source stream in August 2018, roughly a year after it and
of extra supplies, but he noted that 1.2mn tonnes the US-backed YPG took the control of the asset
(8.8mn barrels) had been imported since mid- from IS fighters.
2020, adding that the imported crude plus other Tanak, Syria’s second-largest oilfield, is
petroleum products had cost around $820mn. located east of the River Euphrates, near Omar,
“We have become dependent on imported oil which is the country’s top oil asset. Tanak’s 150
and we have used up foreign currency in large existing wells are thought to be capable of 40,000
amounts to pay for petroleum products,” he said. bpd of production, but information about the
Syria is home to proven reserves of 2.5bn bar- asset’s condition has not been forthcoming
rels of oil and 241bn cubic metres of gas, with since the SDF retook the field in November
Arnous estimating current output running at 2017. Local media outlet Zaman Al Wasl quoted
just 20,000 barrels per day (bpd). Before civil sources at the time as saying that the oil from
war broke out in 2011 production was around Tanak was being supplied to the Syrian regime.
400,000 bpd. Numbers for gas are less clear, but The SDF has held control over the country’s
the most recent verified data, from 2015, showed largest oilfields, including Omar, the largest,
output of 7.73mn cubic metres per day of dry Ward, Kewari, Jafra, Jarnuf, Azrak, Kahar, Afra,
natural gas, and more recent estimates are just Sueytat and Galban. Omar had been producing
3.4 mcm per day. around 30,000 bpd prior to the Syrian Civil War,
The prime minister noted that around but was in the hands of IS from mid-2011 until
400,000 bpd had been lost from fields in the October 2017.™

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