The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Syrian regime’s government announced that it has saved more than one billion Syrian Pounds (SYP- 784,313 USD) as a result of the decline in the global benchmark oil prices. 

Nevertheless, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Ghanem, asserted that this price decline in the global oil market, would not affect the current fuel prices in Syria.

In an interview with the state-run Syria TV Satellite Channel on 23 April, Ghanem talked about the positive impact of the decline of world oil prices on the regime’s government’s daily oil-import bill.

The Minister said that the bill of oil derivatives used to cost the government one billion and 600 million SYP (1,269,841USD) per day, according to the average price of “Brent” crude oil, which amounted to 32 USD per barrel last March.

This positive effect of falling oil prices would not change the prices of fuel sold in the local Syrian market, for it is still subsidized by the government, according to Ghanem. It will instead affect the proportion of the supplies for oil products and their availability.

The Minister’s statement was in line with the result of an opinion poll conducted by Enab Baladi, in which 88 percent of the nearly one thousand participants said that prices would not drop in Syria in conjunction with the global decline in oil prices.

Ghanem said that “the government’s oil-import bill, the support ratio and amount, and the “benefit shortfall” between the cost and the selling price have all shrunk, which is positively reflected on the supply of oil to Syria. However, the local price of oil would not change in the case of availability or revenues,” Ghanem said.

The Minister linked the US sanctions imposed on supplying oil to Syria, with the arrival of oil to Syria at a rate different from that of the international oil price, for there are extra expenses added to the oil price, as well as logistic difficulties in delivering fuel transporter.

Regarding the source of fuel in Syria, Ghanem confirmed that Syria’s “friends” did not skimp in supplying fuel to Syria, referring to Syria’s closest allies, Iran and Russia.

In the past few days, global oil prices have been plunging continuously, owing to the supply increase and demand decrease of oil worldwide, as a result to countries’ procedures taken to confront the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the suspension of air traffic, facilities, and companies.

It is worth mentioning that Syria witnessed a fuel crisis in the last year, which the Syrian regime’s government said was caused by the financial embargo imposed by the US on Syria in conjunction with “rumors” of regime’s government’s intention to raise fuel prices.