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Syrian Kurds sign deal with U.S. oil company, Assad government condemns deal

An oil worker at a local refinery in Syrian Kurdistan, Rojava. 2019. Photo: Hannah Lync/Rudaw  2 August 2020  – QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan,— The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria has signed an agreement with an American oil company, according to US officials.

The agreement to market oil in territory controlled by the US-backed entity and to develop and modernize existing fields was inked last week “with the knowledge and encouragement of the White House.” The sources named the company as Delta Crescent Energy LLC, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Delaware, Al Monitor reported.

Syria on Sunday condemned an agreement between Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) and a US oil company, describing it as “theft” and an “affront to national sovereignty”.

The foreign ministry denounced “an agreement signed by the SDF militia and a US oil company to steal Syrian oil… supported by the US administration”, in a statement quoted by the official SANA news agency.

The SDF is the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led paramilitary alliance that backs a semi-autonomous administration in northeastern Syria and controls the country’s biggest oilfields.

Senior US officials have confirmed an agreement to “modernise” the fields, without naming the US company or providing other details.

The Syrian foreign ministry’s statement decried “an agreement between… thieves who steal and thieves who buy”.

It also decried “the hostile US position towards Syria, the theft of the Syrian people’s riches and its hindrance of the state’s reconstruction efforts”.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of the Syrian Kurds, told a congressional hearing Thursday that he had spoken about the deal with SDF commander General Mazloum Abdi.

“Apparently they’ve signed a deal with an American oil company to modernise the oil fields in northeastern Syria,” Graham said.

Asked by Graham if the US was supportive of the deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We are.”

“The deal took a little longer, senator, than we had hoped and we’re now in implementation. It can be very powerful,” Pompeo said.

Syria produced around 400,000 barrels of oil per day before civil war erupted following a crackdown on protests in 2011, with Iran and Russia backing President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the United States supporting the opposition.