Syrian officials say they started rationing fuel when the Suez Canal blockade reached the sixth day, delaying vital shipments and worsening the country’s oil shortages.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011 and is facing a severe economic crisis. It had already announced an increase of more than 50% in the price of gasoline in mid-March.
Global supply chains have been paralyzed since Tuesday, when the giant container ship Ever Given ran aground and stuck diagonally along the canal, blocking the crucial watercourse in both directions.
In contrast to previous claims that gusts of wind were behind the strand, the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, said on Saturday: “Strong winds and weather factors were not the main reasons for the stranding of the ship, there may have been technical or human errors. “
He hopes to float with the ship in a few days, but days of dredging, digging and pushing the tugboat have so far been unsuccessful.
Rabie said that the longer the size of an Ever Dado skyscraper remains in place, the greater the likelihood that its cargo would need to be relieved with cranes, a strategy that experts said would likely extend the rescue effort by weeks.
More than 300 vessels are now sailing at both ends of the channel, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
The Syrian oil ministry said on Saturday that blocking the trade route had affected oil imports and delayed the arrival of a ship carrying fuel and oil products from Iran, a government ally.
Pending a resolution, “the ministry is rationing the distribution of available oil products” to ensure continuity of essential services, such as bakeries and hospitals, the ministry’s statement said.
Oil Minister Bassam Tomeh told state television that the cargo was due to arrive at the port of Banias on Friday. He added that if the blockade on the channel persists, the ship could redirect around the southern tip of Africa, an expensive diversion that many companies have been forced to consider due to the blockade.
Before the Syrian war, the country enjoyed relative energy autonomy, but in the last decade, about $ 91.5 billion in revenue has been lost to hydrocarbons, the Syrian oil minister said in February.
Pre-war production was 400,000 barrels per day, compared to just 24,000 in 2019.
Up to 80,000 barrels a day used to come from Kurdish areas beyond government control, where more than 90% of the country’s reserves are located.
The Syrian government attributed the economic crisis to Western sanctions and the indirect effect of the financial catastrophe in neighboring Lebanon, which has long acted as Syria’s economic salvation.
With Agence France-Presse