Jul 22 2011 |
more articles from
|
Syrian Opposition Lobbies EU To Ban Syria's Crude Exports-Activist
Friday, Jul 22, 2011
By Iman Dawoud
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Syrian opposition is lobbying the European Union and the U.S. for a ban on oil exports from the country, a Syrian activist has said, as the opposition pushes its strategy to put pressure on Bashar Al-Assad's government.
"We met and discussed the oil boycott with the European External Action Service in Brussels among others," the Syrian opposition figure, Ausama Monajed told Dow Jones Newswires recently. "Also, a lot of effort is taking place in Washington DC."
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said this week there is a need for further sanctions, and added that talks now need to be focused "on what those would be."
The opposition's strategy is to target the government's hard currency reserves through oil revenues, which they say is a key source of income. They say this is unlikely to hit global oil prices overall as Syria is not a significant enough producer but it will effectively squeeze the purse of the government in Damascus as a proportion of hard currency reserves are from oil revenues.
According to the CIA world factbook Syria's oil exports for 2008 were 155,000 barrels a day, it is currently estimated to be 148,000 barrels a day mark. Syria produces a type of crude that is only refined in Italy, Spain, France and The Netherlands, so for the sanctions to be effective it is key that the EU is on board.
Both the U.S. and the EU have already adopted sanctions on key individuals within and connected to the government they have yet to extend any such sanctions to cover Syrian exports or European companies.
A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) said: "Shell will comply with all applicable sanctions."
U.K.'s Hague said this week that the time is now right to look at expanding the existing sanctions on Syria, and he added that he hoped to see new measures over "the coming days and weeks."
-By Iman Dawoud; Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9344; iman.dawoud@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
22-07-11 0915GMT
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment