Qatar is set to supply Syria with natural gas via Jordan with Washington’s approval, Reuters has reported. Qatar was one of the fiercest opponents of the deposed Bashar al-Assad and one of the strongest supporters of the rebels-turned rulers currently in charge. The gas would be transferred from Jordan via a pipeline to the Deir Ali power plant in southern Syria, where it could boost power supply by up to 400 megawatts. According to the Qatari Charge d’affaires in Syria Khalifa Abdullah Al Sharif, the plan aims to increase power production by an initial 400 MW to the country’s power capacity range up to around 4,000 MW.
Syria is facing an energy crisis after Iraq suspended crude oil deliveries to the country In December. “Iraq has decided to stop providing Syria with crude oil starting this month,”Iraqi member of Parliament Mustafa Sanad said shortly after the overthrow of Assad. Prior to the decision by Baghdad, Syria was importing some ~120,000 barrels of Iraq crude daily. Meanwhile, supplies of crude oil from Iran have also ended following the news of the change in power in Syria. Fuel prices in Syria have skyrocketed due to acute shortages during the transitional period.
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Last month, we reported that the European Union discussed a deal to partially suspend several sanctions on Syria’s energy industry, including scrapping bans on importing crude from the country. In a non-paper, the EU proposed the removal of “export ban on oil and gas technology, as well as restrictions on export and participation in infrastructure projects and financing.” An informal EU document is used by member states in closed door negotiations.
According to the paper, the EU was also considering a possible delisting of Al-Qaeda-related factions such as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as terrorist groups, a move that must be decided at UN Security Council level before being implemented by the EU. HTS–a former Al-Qaeda branch in Syria that was linked to ISIS in the region–led the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. EU countries are also mulling lifting restrictions on airlines, such as the Syrian Arab Airlines, in order to “facilitate civilian flight operations between the EU and Syria”.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
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