Syria and Samirock Study Oil Shale Fertilizer Production in Khanasir

What Was Signed

The signing took place at the Syrian Ministry of Energy building in Damascus, under the patronage of that ministry and the Syrian Ministry of Economy and Industry. Mohammed Yassin Hourieh, Assistant Minister of Economy and Industry (Deputy Minister in SANA's English report of 15 June), told SANA the memorandum covers geological, technical and economic studies on using oil shale and phosphate rock to produce DAP.

Samirock's vice chairman, Ibrahim Babli, said Khanasir's oil shale is among the best in the Arab region in quality and quantity, and noted strong global demand for phosphate fertilizers. SANA describes Samirock as specialising in mining, geological surveying, exploration and drilling of wells and tunnels, plus heavy-equipment trading.

The 15 June Meeting

On 15 June 2026, Hourieh met Samirock representatives, with General Establishment representatives present, to discuss implementing the memorandum. According to SANA, the talks covered a work plan for a full geological survey of the site, to produce precise data for the technical and investment studies; the choice of sites for the plant and the landfill and the project's localisation in the area; and ways of securing phosphate supplies from the mines. Related ideas (rock wool from oil shale, caustic soda and chlorine projects, marble-based industries) were raised; no agreement was reported.

Planned Phases and Financing

Enab Baladi reported on 24 April 2026, citing the Syrian Ministry of Energy, that Samirock would use its own technologies to produce ammonia gas; that the first phase would be four months of appraisal studies to determine economic feasibility and the outline of a final contract; that implementation, if reached, was expected to take about two years on preliminary estimates; and that financing would rely on bank funding given the scale of investment. SANA's own reports give no timetable, capacity or investment value.

The Deposit

On 27 May 2010 the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources of the time estimated the Khanasir oil shale at about 37 billion tonnes, in layers up to 240 metres thick. Its minister described the exploration site, about 150 square kilometres south-east of Aleppo, as a first phase open to expansion, and preliminary work by the General Establishment found oil content of 6.9 to 7.9 percent in samples. Al-Thawra (9 April 2026) gave a newer estimate of about 38.8 billion tonnes for the area without naming the source. Both are estimates; the planned survey aims to produce precise data.

Local Expectations and Open Questions

Barakat al-Yousef, director of the Sufeira district, told Syria TV (2 May 2026) that a Saudi company delegation had visited Rajm al-Sawwan to verify the site and that work would start soon after the studies. He said the project would provide about 500 direct jobs, possibly rising to around 4,000 during a set-up and expansion phase that could last two years, and that the investment could start at about $500 million and reach $3 billion. These are one local official's estimates, absent from SANA's reports.

Political economy researcher Yahya al-Sayed Omar told Enab Baladi that feasibility depends on factors including extraction and processing costs, advanced technology, slow payback and global energy prices, and that pairing oil shale with DAP production could cut energy-related operating costs. Levant24 noted that extraction needs much water and processing leaves large quantities of spent rock. Enab Baladi added that earlier investment plans for the resource, since 2010, were not implemented, among them a former oil ministry memorandum with Russia's Ros Geologiya on an oil shale block and the Syrian Investment Authority's 2021 offer of an oil shale energy project at an estimated $800 million.

SANA's reports on the signing and the 15 June meeting announce no final work-area boundary, exact plant site or survey results; the signing report quoted a Syrian official as saying the proposed site would be set according to technical and economic studies.