Nobody Is Touching US-Occupied Syrian Oil With a 6 Foot Pole — Saudi Aramco Denies Sending Experts

Claims emerged last week that Saudi Aramco was looking to get US-occupied oil fields in eastern Syria back to capacity:

Sources have disclosed that the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly referred to as Aramco, has sent a delegation of experts to discuss investment opportunities in the oil fields and wells in the Eastern Syrian city of Deir Ez-Zor.

According to the oppositionist news site Deir Ezzor 24, Aramco “started implementing practical steps in this field, where a group of the company arrived in an official mission to al-Omar oil field in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside.”

It is believed that the investments will be made through contracts signed between Aramco and the US government, whose armed forces have steadily been increasing their military presence in terms of manpower and equipment around the oil fields.

These then escalated into claims that Saudis had also deployed troops to guard Aramco technicians:

Saudi Arabia has deployed “dozens” of soldiers to a major oil field in eastern Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor in an apparent effort to protect the group of Saudi and Egyptian Aramco experts who arrived in the area the previous week, reports have said.

According to the Arabic service of the Anadolu Agency, local sources said that the Saudi soldiers arrived at Al-Omar oil field aboard helicopters. The source also added that this coincided with the arrival of about 30 trucks carrying drilling and digging equipment, which entered Syrian territory from northern Iraq.

However, Aramco has denied all of this:

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly referred to as Aramco, denied sending a delegation of experts and consultants to oil fields and wells in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ez-Zor.

In response to questions by email from Enab Baladi, Aramco’s Corporate Communications Department confirmed, on 20 December 2019, that the company is not conducting any activities in Syria.

“We assure you that Saudi Aramco is not involved in any mining, production or other investment activities in Syria,” according to the company’s communications department.

Make up your own mind, but I for one believe the Saudis in this case. Aramco has very little to gain from getting involved in what is a tiny field, and much to lose from being seen as plundering Syria’s resources. The Turkish Anadolu, however, has every reason to blacken the Saudis given the Saudi-Turkish confrontation over Qatar blockade, and the limited spiteful Saudi championing of Kurds in retaliation.