Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed Al-Bashir Defends Fuel Price Hikes Before People’s Assembly
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Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir defended price hikes before the People’s Assembly, citing market pressures. He attributed increases to a gap between local production and demand and higher import costs.
Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir defended raising prices of petroleum derivatives before the People’s Assembly, linking the decision to a large gap between local production and Syria’s needs for oil and gas and to import costs weighing on the state budget. In the parliamentary hearing, al-Bashir said local oil production amounts to about 112,000 barrels per day while Syria needs about 200,000 more barrels per day to be secured from abroad, and he said Syria needs $831 million a month to purchase crude oil and petroleum products. He also told lawmakers that ready power plants need about 24 million cubic meters of gas per day while local production stands at about 8 million cubic meters, and he said the ministry buys 6.3 million cubic meters of gas daily at a cost of up to about $140 million per month.
Al-Bashir said the ministry is forced to reduce its gas purchases by about two million cubic meters per day due to financial shortfalls and weak collection, warning of repercussions on electricity supply hours. He further said the Public Electricity Corporation’s debts to the Syrian Petroleum Company for gas purchased for power plants amount to about $1.65 billion as of the session, after being around $1.3 billion at the beginning of August.
Fuel-price increases triggered protests across Syria, with demonstrators burning tires and blocking roads including the highway linking Damascus and the industrial hub of Aleppo.
Reuters reported that after Syria’s government on Saturday raised diesel prices by 40% to 175 Syrian pounds ($1.32) a litre, demonstrators burned tyres and blocked key roads including the highway linking the capital Damascus to the industrial hub of Aleppo.
CNN said Syria’s government temporarily raised diesel prices to 175 Syrian pounds ($1.43) a liter—roughly a 40% hike—and also raised prices for gas by more than 25%.
In Aleppo, Reuters video showed people burning tires and shouting chants criticizing the governments’ fuel hike decision, and one protester, Yasser Salim, told Reuters, "All those present here want a reduction in diesel prices. We don’t want higher wages, we want cheaper (fuel)."
Muaz Al Abdullah, a Syria analyst at ACLED, said the protests reflected accumulated public resentment and that demands were shifting toward reversing decisions and removing officials, including the energy minister, as economic grievances turned into grievances against the government.
In response to the supply gap and the pressure on imports, al-Bashir told the People’s Assembly that Syria plans to reach oil self-sufficiency by 2028 while working to raise domestic production and close the supply gap covered by imports. SANA said al-Bashir stated that Syria has 78 oil fields and that the ministry is working to regain control of fields and rehabilitate infrastructure, with several wells temporarily shut down for rehabilitation before being returned to production. He also said natural gas production has risen to about 8 million cubic meters from 6 million cubic meters but remains below Syria’s estimated requirement of 24 million cubic meters, while the ministry is drilling additional wells to increase output.
Al-Bashir said the government is keeping the Homs refinery operating despite its poor technical condition until new refining capacity can be established, and he said a full overhaul of the Baniyas refinery was carried out because of its deteriorating technical condition and the need to protect workers. In the same parliamentary context, he said the establishment of holding companies does not mean moving toward privatizing the energy sector and that "All companies affiliated with the ministry are state-owned."
