Terrorist group to hand oilfields over to Assad regime

By Mohamed Misto

DEIR EZ-ZOR/ANKARA

The YPG/PKK terrorist group has agreed to hand responsibility for several of Syria’s most lucrative oilfields over to the Assad regime.

According to local sources, the YPG/PKK and the regime wrapped up several weeks of negotiations on Thursday.

Under the agreement, the regime will be responsible for transporting the oil and gas through pipelines laid and/or repaired by a Canadian energy company.

The regime will also be responsible for providing YPG/PKK-held areas with electricity produced from the oil and gas extracted from the oilfields.

The YPG/PKK, however, will remain responsible for extracting the crude oil from the oilwells.

During the first six-month phase of the Canadian company’s contract, pipelines will be laid and/or repaired starting in Syria’s eastern Deir Ez-Zor province.

Repair of the pipelines will begin from the Al-Omar and Tanaq oilfields, from which oil will be transported to the regime-held Teym oilfield.

The pipelines will terminate at a refinery in Homs province.

Gas extracted from Al-Omar and Tanaq, meanwhile, will be transferred to the YPG/PKK-held Conoco gas plant, from which the regime will then acquire the gas.

Within this context, a regime delegation, including Russian energy experts, recently visited Al-Omar, considered Syria’s largest oilfield.

On June 2, the YPG/PKK and the regime agreed to trade oil extracted from Al-Omar. One year earlier, the two sides agreed to share revenues obtained from oilfields located in Syria’s YPG/PKK-held Hasakah province.

The U.S.-backed terrorist group currently controls some 70 percent of Syria’s total oil resources.

Located near the Iraqi border, Deir ez-Zor is home to Syria’s largest oilfields. Eleven of the country’s largest oilfields are located east of the Euphrates River, which snakes through Deir ez-Zor province.

The Al-Omar, Tanaq, Ward, Afra, Kewari, Jafra, Jarnuf, Azrak, Kahar, Sueytat and Galban oilfields -- all of which are located east of the river -- are believed to account for roughly one third of Syria’s total energy production.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara