Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that the value of damages inflicted on the Syrian oil and mineral wealth sector as a result of acts of aggression, looting, and sabotage committed by the United States and its terrorist proxies amounts to a total of $115.2 billion.
The ministry has sent a message to the United Nations Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, urging them to put an end to the aggressive practices and grave violations of international law and the United Nations Charter carried out by the United States and its military forces, which are illegitimately present in parts of the Syrian Arab Republic in the northeast and the Tanf region in the southeast.
It emphasized that the United States and its affiliates continue to violate Syria’s sovereignty, plunder its resources, and strategic assets, aiming to exacerbate the impact of illegal unilateral coercive measures and deprive Syrians of their national resources, further intensifying their suffering.
The ministry noted that the value of damages to Syria’s oil and mineral wealth sector resulting from acts of aggression, looting, and sabotage committed by the United States and its terrorist proxies has reached $115.2 billion US dollars, spanning from 2011 to the end of the first half of 2023.
The latest statistics and estimates regarding the losses in the Syrian oil sector reveal that the direct losses amounted to $27.5 billion US dollars. These losses resulted from:
The theft, waste, and burning of extracted oil, estimated at 341 million barrels, with theft rates ranging from 100,000 to 130,000 barrels per day, recently reaching up to 150,000 barrels per day. This also includes 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas and 413,000 tons of domestic gas, with a total value of $21.4 billion.
Sabotage and theft of facilities, with damage costs amounting to $3.2 billion US dollars.
The bombing of oil and gas facilities in Syria by the so-called “illegitimate international coalition,” resulting in damages of $2.9 billion US dollars.
The indirect losses, representing the value of foregone benefits (from crude oil, natural gas, and domestic gas) due to reduced production compared to planned levels under normal working conditions, amount to $87.7 billion US dollars.
Syria emphasizes that these losses are not mere figures but facts and evidence that hold the United States and its allies responsible for the suffering and deterioration of the living conditions of the Syrian people, with the aim of undermining their national choices.
Syria calls for holding the responsible US officials accountable for these thefts, compelling the US administration to compensate for them, ending the illegitimate presence of US forces, and returning the occupied territories, oil and gas fields, and other natural resources to the Syrian state to ensure an improvement in the humanitarian and living conditions of the Syrian people.
