According to media outlets affiliated with Damascus and the French news agency AFP, the shipment is being carried out under an agreement aimed at restarting Iraqi oil exports that had been disrupted due to the war in the Middle East.
After Iran restricted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq’s oil exports largely came to a halt, storage tanks quickly filled up, and production was partially suspended.
Ahmed Qubbaji, an official of the Syrian Petroleum Company, stated that the first tanker loading was carried out through the Baniyas Refinery and that around 500,000 tons of oil are planned to be loaded. Part of the oil will be used in Syria for electricity generation, while the rest will be exported by sea.
An AFP correspondent reported that dozens of tanker trucks with Iraqi license plates were heading through Tartus toward refinery and storage facilities.
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil had previously announced that oil had begun to be transported by tanker trucks through Syria.
In Iraq, which is heavily dependent on oil revenues, about 90% of the state budget income comes from oil exports.
Before the war, Iraq exported about 3.5 million barrels of oil per day. Recently, it had also partially resumed exports through the Ceyhan pipeline via the Kurdistan Region.
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