Page 9 - DMEA Week 09 2021

DMEA PIPELINES DMEA

Syrian gas pipeline attacked as tensions rise

MIDDLE EAST SYRIA’S Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral prevented any progress from being made.
Resources has reported that a gas pipeline in Meanwhile, at the same time, fellow Rus-
the east of the country was attacked over the sian firm Vilada was awarded Block 23 which
weekend with no groups yet having claimed contains a gas field north of Damascus and it is
responsibility. worthy of note that Block 12 which lies in north
The attack was carried out on the al-Jabsa- of Raqqa was awarded to directly to the Iranian
al-Rayyan in the Abu Khashab area of the Deir government last year.
Ezzor province, which is home to much of the Little-known US firm Delta Crescent Energy
country’s oil and gas reserves. The ministry (DCE) last year signed a deal with the Auton-
said that firefighters and maintenance crews omous Administration of North and East Syria
worked to put out the fire and repair the line so (Rojava) for the modernisation and develop-
that gas flows could be resumed. There were no ment of oilfields having acquired a sanctions
casualties. waiver from the US Treasury Department’s
London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).
that Islamic State (IS) sleeper cells are known DCE co-founder Ambassador James Cain
to be active in the area and they have previously said recently that the assets covered by the deal
targeted government forces and the anti-gov- include “all the fields in the far north-east, but
ernment, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces not those in the south near Deir Ezzor.”
(SDF). However, Downstream MEA (DMEA) under-
The attack follows a US air strike last week stands that the company’s efforts to kick off work
on Iranian-backed militia based in Al-Bukamal, in the area are also being stifled by logistic-re-
also in Deir Ezzor, which lies on the west bank of lated issues.™
the Euphrates river close to the border with Iraq.
The Euphrates continues to be used as a
deconfliction line between the US and Russian
interests with the former holding positions to the
east and the latter to the west.
In 2019, the Syrian government awarded
Blocks 7 and 19 covering oilfields east of the
Euphrates to Russian company Mercury, which
is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder
of the paramilitary Wagner Group, though
US influence in the area is believed to have

Week 09 04•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9