Syria has identified an offshore site for its first deepwater oil and gas exploration project with US major Chevron and Qatar’s UCC Holding, the Syrian Petroleum Company said on Monday.
The move is part of a broader push by Syria’s new government to attract foreign investment into the country’s battered energy sector after years of civil war and sanctions.
State-owned SPC said that the company, together with Chevron and UCC Holding, had completed identification of the offshore block, paving the way to finalise contracts and start technical operations this summer.
Chevron signed a preliminary agreement in February with SPC and UCC Holding to evaluate offshore oil and gas exploration in Syrian waters, the US company’s entry into Syria’s eastern Mediterranean offshore sector.
Chevron already operates the giant Leviathan gas field off the shore of Israel, that country's largest energy asset.
Other US firms have also expressed interest in Syrian oil and gas projects since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled at the end of 2024 after a 14-year civil war.
(Reporting by Feras Dalatey in Dubai. Editing by Peter Graff)