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Over $100bn in damage inflicted on Syria’s oil sector by decade-long crisis: Ministry

Saturday, 05 February 2022 7:10 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 February 2022 7:15 PM ]

Mask-clad US soldiers walk during a patrol near an oil production facility in the countryside near al-Malikiyah (Derik), in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah Province, on October 27, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

The Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has enumerated the harm caused by the devastating foreign-sponsored militancy against the Arab nation, stating that the ongoing conflict has, directly or indirectly, inflicted around $100.5 billion in damage on the Arab country’s energy sector.

At a press conference in the capital Damascus on Saturday, the Syrian ministry said at least 235 of its employees have lost their lives as a result of terrorist attacks on oil refineries and natural gas production plants across the country.

It added that various acts of terror have also resulted in the injury of 64 people employed at Syria's oil and gas industry.

Additionally, Takfiri terrorist groups have abducted 112 workers from Syrian oil and gas fields.

American forces continue to steal Syrian oil in cooperation with US-backed Kurdish forces

American forces stationed in Syria send a new convoy of tanker trucks carrying stolen Syrian oil to northern Iraq.

The Syrian petroleum ministry went on to say that the war-ravaged country was able to produce about 31.4 million barrels of crude oil throughout last year, equal to an average of 85.9 thousand barrels per day.

While some 16,000 barrels of crude oil are estimated to have been transported on a daily basis to petroleum refining facilities in order to be transformed into products such as petrol, kerosene, diesel oil and fuel oil, more than 70,000 barrels per day of oil have been stolen by US occupation forces and their allied Takfiri terrorists, the ministry said.

Back on January 26, the US military used more than a hundred tanker trucks to smuggle crude oil from Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to neighboring Iraq.

American forces smuggle stolen Syrian oil to their bases in Iraq

The US military has brought a convoy of vehicles loaded with military equipment and tanker trucks carrying stolen oil from Syria to its bases in Iraq.

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources in al-Ya’rubiyah town, reported at the time that a convoy of 130 tankers left Syria through al-Waleed border crossing, and headed towards Iraqi territories.

The sources added that Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) escorted the US military convoy until it arrived at the border crossing.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

US sets up refinery in Syria’s Hasakah to increase country's oil theft

US occupation forces set up an oil refinery in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, as Washington continues to loot energy resources in the war-ravaged country.

Damascus, however, says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.

Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in Syria for its oil.

After failing to oust the Syrian government with the help of its proxies and direct involvement in the conflict, the US government has now stepped up its economic war on the Arab country.

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