A makeshift oil refinery site in al-Mansoura village, al-Raqqa province. Photograph: Reuters
Damascus: The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country’s key resources.
Jabhat Al Nusra, affiliated with Al Qaeda and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in
Al Hasakah governorate.
As opposition groups have turned their guns on each other in the battle over oil, water and agricultural land, military pressure on Bashar Al Assad’s government from the north and east has eased off. In some areas, Al Nusra has struck deals with government forces to allow the transfer of crude across the front lines to the Mediterranean coast.
As a result of the rush to make quick money, open-air refineries have been set up in Deir Ezzor and Al Raqqa provinces. Crude is stored in ditches and heated in metal tanks by wood fires, shrouding the region with plumes of black smoke, exposing the local population to the dangers of the thick smog and the frequent explosions at the improvised plants.
Heating oil, diesel and petrol is condensed in hoses running from the tanks through pools of water and sold across the north, as far as Aleppo. The remaining crude is shipped by road on tankers to Turkey. One leading opposition figure said: “The northern front hasn’t just gone dormant; the northern front has gone commercial.” The EU announced it was lifting its oil embargo in April to help the moderate opposition. The implementation regulations have yet to be issued so the decision has not taken effect, but regional experts say the announcement intensified the race for oil — a race the western-backed moderates lost.
Joshua Landis, an expert on the region at the University of Oklahoma who runs the Syria Comment blog, said the EU decision on oil “sent a message that oil could come back online faster than most thought possible”.
“Whoever gets their hands on the oil, water and agriculture, holds Sunni Syria by the throat.
Guardian News
