Saudi oil giant Aramco is planning to invest in one of Syria’s largest oil fields in the governorate of Deir Ezzor, the local Deir Ezzor 24 blog reported on November 14.
According to the blog, which is well-known for its connections in Deir Ezzor, a team of Aramco’s experts has already visited and inspected the al-Omar oil fields in southeastern Deir Ezzor.
“The investment will be done through contracts that will be signed by Aramco and the U.S. government, whose forces control the majority of oil and Gas fields in northeast Syria,” Deir Ezzor 24 quoted a source as saying.
The Pentagon announced that its keeping 500 U.S. troops in eastern Syria to “guard” oil fields in northern al-Hasakah and southeast Deir Ezzor.
The U.S. military presence in Syria is illegal under the international law and it does have no right what so ever to grant investments in the eastern region’s oil.
Last month, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) carried out a series of pinpoint strikes on oil smuggling facilities near the Turkish-occupied city of Jarabulus in northern Aleppo. Back then, sources in Damascus warned that any attempt to loot or smuggle Syrian oil will be met with a similar measure.
If Aramco indeed moves to invest in Syria’s oil through illegal contracts with the U.S, without the consent of Damascus, Saudi Arabia could find itself in a serious crisis with Syria and its allies, first of all Iran and Hezbollah.
Last September, Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen struck two of Aramco’s key facilities in Saudi Arabia’s eastern region. As a result, the Kingdom was forces to lower its oil exports for several days triggering a chaose at the international oil market.
