Syrian rebels have set three oil wells in the east of the country ablaze, causing a daily loss of nearly 5,000 barrels of oil and 52,000 cubic meters of gas, state media quoted an oil ministry official as saying on Sunday.
It said Syria's Furat Petroleum Corporation was working to extinguish the three fires. A total of nine wells had been set on fire by the rebels, the agency added, without saying when the other six had been set ablaze.
European Union sanctions imposed on Syria two years ago over President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on protests - which have since developed into armed conflict - effectively halted Syria's oil exports.
Assad's government has also struggled to meet domestic energy requirements after losing control of large parts of the east of the country, where most of the oil wells are located.
But despite the fighting residents say oil production has continued in some fields, with rebels trading with local authorities and allowing oil to be shipped to government-controlled areas.
Syrian antigovernment activists reported the rebel seizure of a strategically important town in southern Syria on Friday only a few miles from the Jordanian border, which if confirmed would represent a new setback for government forces, who have already ceded territory to the insurgency in the north and east.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group in Britain with contacts throughout Syria, said rebel fighters secured the town, Dael, after more than a day of clashes in which three military checkpoints were destroyed and more than 24 combatants and at least nine civilians were killed.
This is actually really sad that they are not able to prevent these attacks by Syrian rebels, especially with so many attacks happening one would think that they would be doing more efforts to secure the oil wells against attacks. Maybe they will take more effort in doing so soon in order to not further fall into struggling situations of domestic energy requirements. Hopefully Syria will get something figured out in order to figure out how to secure the areas because it seems like something odd is definitely occurring seeing as rebels and local authorities are trading..
ReplyDeleteArab League member states' dependence on oil is something that the Economic Affairs Council can work on... Too many times have oil, the fight for oil and the lack of oil been the centerfold of conflict in the Arab League states. I wonder if anyone (AL state or other states) is helping Syria during their domestic oil production shortage.
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