DAMASCUS, Dec 22 (NNN-SANA) – A 44-tanker convoy, carrying oil, stolen from Syrian oil fields, departed Syria’s north-eastern al-Hasakah province, for U.S. bases in neighbouring Iraq, yesterday.
According to local sources, the convoy exited the Yarubiya countryside, on the Iraqi-Syrian border, through the unauthorised Mahmoudiya crossing,
The incident came, days after the U.S. forces took 95 tankers of oil and a truckload of grains, from north-eastern Syria on Dec 17.
The Syrian government has repeatedly accused the U.S. forces of “pillaging Syrian resources,” a move that further exacerbates the economic hardships of the country.
Head of the government-run Syrian Oil Company, Farhan Jamil Abdullah, said in July that, as a result of the U.S. sanctions and military presence in Syria, oil production has decreased to 15,000 barrels per day from 385,000 barrels before the crisis, while gas production has plunged from 30 million cubic metres per day to 10 million cubic metres.
The Syrian government has lost control of most of the energy fields, as a result of the U.S. presence in oil-rich areas, in northern and eastern Syria, he said.
Oil Minister, Firas Hassan Kaddour, said in July that, the losses of the energy sector in Syria are close to 100 billion U.S. dollars.
