Energy in Syria

Russia and Syria on Christmas Day reportedly entered into a 90-million-dollar, 25-year oil prospecting deal.
SYRIA, 2014/01/05 Russia and Syria on Christmas Day reportedly entered into a 90-million-dollar, 25-year oil prospecting transaction. ''With a move that remained unnoticed in the midst of Christmas festivities, Putin consolidated Russia's position in one of the world's most interesting new regions in terms of oil and hydrocarbons'', the Financial Times newspaper wrote. The arrangement between Russian company Soyuzneftegaz and Damascus was reportedly signed in the Syrian capital, and ''grants the Russians prospecting rights over a 2,190 square-kilometer section of Syrian territorial waters'', according to Lebanese newspaper Daily Star. ''This is the initial-ever arrangement for oil and gas exploration in Syrian waters''. The relatively recent discovery of the Leviathan gas field in the eastern Mediterranean has caused area powers inclunding Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey to jockey for position. Syria and Lebanon have accused Israel of intent to steal the Lebanese quota, while Israel and Cyprus signed a transaction to exploit resources in waters between their coasts: that transaction stoked the rage of Ankara, because the northern occupied portion of Cyprus, which only Turkey recognizes, was not part of the consultations.

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