The American oil giant Chevron signed an initial agreement with Syria’s state-owned oil company on Wednesday to explore the development of the country’s first offshore oil and gas field, according to Syrian state media.
The deal is part of a push by President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria to reinvigorate the country’s energy sector, which was devastated during a nearly 14-year-long civil war. The agreement comes weeks after the Syrian government seized control of key onshore oil and gas fields from a Kurdish militia.
Chevron, the Syrian Petroleum Company, and a Qatari company, Power International Holding, signed a memorandum of understanding at the presidential palace in Syria’s capital, Damascus, according to state media.
The U.S. special envoy for Syria, Thomas J. Barrack Jr, was also present, state media reports said.
The deal is “the most important agreement in Syria’s energy sector,” said Youssef Qiblawi, the director of the Syrian Petroleum Company, according to local media.
Syria was once a leading oil and natural gas producer in the Mediterranean region, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A.
Before the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, Syria produced enough oil to cover its own energy needs and generate around 25 percent of state revenues, according to the E.I.A.
The country’s energy sector was decimated by the war and the imposition of global sanctions. By 2015, the Islamic State group had captured most of the country’s oil and gas fields.
Today, Syria produces a fraction of the electricity it needs and has been plagued by frequent blackouts. In recent months, the government has tried to tap into the country’s energy reserves to deliver a more reliable power supply.
In November, the Syrian Petroleum Company signed an agreement with U.S.-based ConocoPhillips, the American energy company, and Novaterra to develop Syria’s existing gas fields and explore new ones.
Chevron has been looking to expand its foothold in the eastern Mediterranean and hopes to use its presence in Israel, Egypt and Cyprus as a regional springboard to become a major exporter of gas to Europe.
The oil and gas fields that the Syrian government seized last month, part of its push to consolidate its authority across the country, include al-Omar, Syria’s largest field. They represent the majority of Syria’s oil production and were the main source of revenue for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
The al-Omar field was operated as a joint venture between the Syrian Petroleum Company and Shell before the civil war. Shell suspended all its activities and the European Union imposed sanctions on Syria’s oil sector.
Last month, after the Syrian government seized control of al-Omar, Mr. Qiblawi said that Shell, the British oil giant, had asked to withdraw from the oil field and transfer its share to Syrian state-owned operators.
“Al-Omar oil field is one of the most important fields in the region,” Mr. Qiblawi said at a news conference at the time. “It will become entirely ours, and we will operate it with our own Syrian engineering and technical staff.”
Muhammad Haj Kadour, Reham Mourshed and Stanley Reed contributed reporting.
Christina Goldbaum is The Times’s bureau chief in Beirut, leading coverage of Lebanon and Syria.
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