Tripartite deal signed on construction of oil refinery in Syria
A senior official with the Iranian Ministry of Oil said that a tripartite agreement, signed among the Islamic Republic of Iran, Venezuela, and Syria, envisages the building of a new oil refinery in the Arab country’s Homs Province.
Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari provided the information in an interview with Iran’s Fars news agency. The deal foresees the construction of “a new 140,000-barrel refinery,” whose required oil would be provided jointly by the Islamic Republic and Venezuela, he said.
“The fundamental studies and designing process [for implementation of the project] has been completed,” the official noted.
The refinery would complement two already functioning ones, the Banias Refinery and the Homs Refinery, both located in western Syria. According to Salari, “The financing and construction [phases of the project] are on the
agenda.”
Iran and Syria have also signed a memorandum of understanding towards repairing the 110,000-barrel oil refinery that is located in Homs, the Iranian official reported.Analysts say cooperation among the three states exemplifies their indifference towards the US-led campaign of sanctions that has similarly targeted them over their rejection of Washington’s efforts at regional and global dominance.
The cooperation also comes amid the ongoing illegal presence of US forces in Syria, who are engaged in stealing the Arab country’s direly needed oil resources.
US military trucks and tankers frequently carry tons of grain and crude oil from the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq as part of Washington’s systematic smuggling of basic commodities out of Syria. The US military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.