Syria has received the first shipment from the grant provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support its energy sector.
The Saudi oil tanker Petalidi docked at Baniyas port (in Tartus province, western Syria) loaded with more than 89,000 tons of Saudi crude oil, roughly 650,000 barrels, as part of a grant whose total volume is 1.65 million barrels of crude.
The Syrian Petroleum Company said that all logistical and technical procedures had been completed to begin connecting and immediately offloading the cargo, in order to start refining the crude oil into petroleum products to meet local demand.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the grant reflects the Kingdom’s efforts to help improve stability and sustainable development for the Syrian people, based on the close relations between the two countries.
On 11 September, Saudi Arabia announced that it would provide support to Syria to secure its fuel needs through a grant of 1.65 million barrels of oil, to cover part of the citizens’ demand for petroleum products and provide fuel for power plants.
The Saudi Fund for Development signed a memorandum of understanding with the Syrian Ministry of Energy that includes providing a Saudi oil grant to Syria, to help boost the operation of Syrian refineries and achieve operational and financial sustainability, support economic development and address economic challenges in Syria, enable vital sectors to grow, and back national and international efforts to achieve sustainable development goals.
Saudi oil shipment
Data reviewed by the specialist platform ATTAQA showed that the Saudi oil shipment was loaded in mid-October onto the tanker Petalidi, which sails under the Liberian flag.
Satellite imagery and tanker tracking data indicated that the vessel was loaded with “Al-Hout crude” from Al-Khafji, and then stopped in “Ras Tanura” to take condensates from the Al-Khaf field to mix with “Al-Hout crude” to achieve the appropriate specifications for the Syrian Baniyas refinery.
Well-informed sources told the platform that the tanker’s multiple stops while carrying Saudi oil to Syria were because the grades compatible with Syrian refineries were not available in Yanbu on the Red Sea.
The tanker carrying the Saudi oil shipment to Syria deliberately avoided passing through the Red Sea despite the shorter distance, instead taking the route around the Cape of Good Hope off Africa.
According to the same sources, there were two main reasons for routing the vessel around Africa, namely that oil storage tanks in Syria are full and there is no room to store additional crude arriving in the coming days, and factors related to insurance and safety costs. Insurance rates in the Red Sea were high at the time the shipment set sail because of ongoing Houthi attacks on ships.
The global oil sector database maintained by Energy indicates that this shipment is the first Saudi crude oil ever to reach Syria, as the country has not historically imported Saudi crude.
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