Syria has agreed to sharply reduce oil imports from Russia as part of negotiations with the United States to lift the latest major sanctions imposed on Damascus, Reuters reports, citing sources.
In particular, we are talking about the possible exclusion of Syria from the list of states sponsoring terrorism. However, all three interlocutors of the news agency, on condition of anonymity, clarified that the United States did not officially put forward a reduction in imports from the Russian Federation as a precondition for lifting restrictions.
According to the US State Department, countries that, according to the White House, have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism include, in addition to Syria, Cuba, Iran and the DPRK. Damascus has had this status since 1979.
Back in May, American payment systems Mastercard and Visa began working in test mode in Syria after 15 years of absence from the local market due to restrictions from the US Treasury Department. Most of the sanctions on the country were lifted by decree of American President Donald Trump back in 2025 against the background of the coming to power of the opposition led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In July, the head of the White House personally supported the initiative to restore the Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria. The reconstructed pipeline will run from Iraqi oil fields to the Syrian west coast. It could reduce the dependence of international supplies on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran, with which the United States has an ongoing armed conflict.
The oil pipeline project will be carried out by American companies. They, as a State Department spokesman said in a comment to Reuters, will be “reliable partners” of Damascus in the process of rebuilding the country. At the same time, the US representative said that there is no connection between the lifting of sanctions on Syria and the reduction in Russian oil imports.
However, according to a Syrian Reuters source, US officials told their counterparts in Damascus that “halting Russian oil purchases” would “increase the chances of a quick and smooth lifting” of the Middle Eastern country's undesirable country status. This was also confirmed by a third anonymous source.
According to experts, reducing energy imports from Russia would be a new way for Washington to weaken Moscow’s economic influence in the Middle Eastern country.
“Replacing Russian oil volumes cannot happen overnight without risking fuel shortages or increasing import costs for Syria. The long-term consequences for Damascus depend on whether Washington combines this pressure with alternative measures,” said Navwar Saban, a Syrian analyst at the Arab Center for Contemporary Studies.
Despite the lifting of most Western sanctions, Syria's oil supply capacity remains severely limited. For this reason, Damascus is seeking to create a diversified energy supply network, Reuters emphasizes.
French oil company TotalEnergies discussed signing an offshore exploration contract with Syrian officials, and in June Syria signed an agreement to resume gas production with Novaterra and ConocoPhillips. By the way, the latter company, together with other US energy giants, entered into agreements worth $60 billion with Iraq in July.
“Russian oil supplies to Syria this year increased by 75% and amounted to about 60,000 barrels per day. This is a negligible share of the total volume of daily oil exports from Russia, but thanks to it, Moscow has become the main supplier of oil to Syria,” Reuters clarifies.
Neither source provided details on the timing of the changes or alternative sources of oil. A Syrian energy industry official told Reuters that Damascus was already looking for new suppliers and that “radical changes” were expected.
