Establishing the First Syrian Offshore Gas Field

Establishing the first Syrian offshore oil and gas field through exploration and drilling in territorial waters, developing the oil sector and enhancing energy security.

Main Participating Parties

The Syrian Petroleum Company is the state‑owned national company responsible for managing oil resources, and it is the Syrian party that signs the agreement and is authorized to grant exploration rights.

Chevron International is one of the world’s largest energy companies; it signed a memorandum to assess opportunities for oil and gas exploration off the Syrian coast in the Eastern Mediterranean, and a company spokesperson confirmed that the agreement is a preliminary one to evaluate feasibility.

Power International Holding / UCC (Qatar) is a major Qatari investment group presented as a key partner in financing and development, with previous investments in post‑war Syria in real estate, power projects, and the Damascus Airport redevelopment.

The signing was also attended by the US envoy to Syria, Tom/Thomas Barrack, and the Qatari ambassador Khalifa bin Abdullah Al‑Mahmoud, signaling a political‑diplomatic dimension to the project in addition to the economic one.

Location and Offshore Blocks

The memorandum did not disclose the name of the field or exact coordinates, because it is essentially an agreement to explore one offshore block out of five blocks that have been surveyed or allocated off the coasts of Tartous and Latakia.

An official from the Syrian Petroleum Company clarified that Syria has five offshore blocks along its shoreline, and one of them will be designated as the scope of joint work under the memorandum.

This area lies within the eastern Mediterranean, which has seen major gas discoveries in Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, and Lebanon, so the Syrian coast is viewed as a potential geological extension of those gas basins.

Expected Economic Significance

The Syrian government and analysts describe the project as having strategic importance for the energy sector and the wider economy.

It could help diversify energy sources and partially shift away from dependence on war‑damaged onshore fields in the northeast toward relatively more secure offshore resources.

Successful offshore discoveries could improve gas supplies for power generation and industry in the medium term, and reduce the energy import bill.

The project is also expected to create direct and indirect jobs in oil‑field services, engineering, transport, and logistics, and to bring additional revenues to the state budget if a commercially viable field is developed.

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