Vitol Tanker To Load Syria’s First Crude Shipment Since US Sanctions Lifted

Swiss-based Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil trader, is preparing to load the first shipment of Syrian crude oil since sanctions on Damascus were lifted. As per sources, the cargo is expected to be delivered to a refinery in Italy.

Syria has resumed oil exports after a major change in international policy. In July, US President Donald Trump signed an order lifting most American sanctions on the country, which had been in place since the 1970s and tightened in 2004 and 2011.

The move is intended to help Syria’s economy recover, but sanctions remain on Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights violators, drug traffickers, and groups linked to terrorism, chemical weapons, or Iran.

The order also allows partial relief under the Caesar Act if certain conditions are met, and eases some export and foreign aid restrictions. Two months earlier, the European Union had already removed all remaining economic sanctions on Syria.

Syria’s crude exports collapsed during more than a decade of civil war. Before the conflict began in 2011, the country produced several hundred thousand barrels of oil per day.

Exports had peaked at just under 380,000 barrels per day in 2002, according to data provider CEIC. The war left the economy shattered, infrastructure heavily damaged, and millions of people displaced.

The war ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December last year, opening the way for efforts to revive Syria’s oil sector and rebuild its economy.

As part of this recovery, Syria has recently signed several regional and international energy deals:

In August, Damascus and Baghdad began discussions to restart and upgrade the Kirkuk–Baniya oil pipeline, an old energy link between the two countries that has reached the end of its service

In May, Syria and Türkiye signed a deal to import two billion cubic meters of natural gas each year through a newly connected pipeline running from Kilis to Aleppo, to be used for electricity generation.

The government also signed a $7 billion deal with Turkish, Qatari, and American companies to build four gas-fired power plants and a 1,000 MW solar plant.

In July, Syria signed a memorandum with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR to expand cooperation on natural gas supply and oil exploration.

Last month, the Syrian Ministry of Energy announced a tender on Facebook to sell 500,000 barrels of medium-density, high-sulfur crude oil.

Reference: Bloomberg

Source: Maritime Shipping News