The EU has banned the import of Syrian oil in the latest and most economically significant round of sanctions against the Ba’athist regime, in response to a brutal five-month crackdown ordered by President Bashar Assad on civilian protestors in the country.
Human rights observers and the United Nations state that over 2,200 people have been killed so far by Syrian army and police forces.
“Our measures are targeted at depriving the regime of financial revenues and of the support base which is necessary for maintaining this violent repression,” a spokesman for EU Foreign Minister Lady Caroline Ashton said on Friday.
US President Barack Obama had already signed a comprehensive suite of oil and economic sanctions against Syria, which were mainly symbolic, as more than 95% of Syrian oil is imported by the EU. The country pumps arounds 400,000 barrels per day, with around 150,000 destined for export.
Oil revenue is particularly important to the Assad regime as it flows into a designated fund within the easy control of the government, largely free from parliamentary oversight.
The regime remains free to export its oil to other markets, but with the EU historically paying the highest prices, political cost and limited customers, future importers are likely to demand a discount, hurting a regime that relies on EU exports of oil for over a third of its revenues.
As well as banning oil imports, the new EU sanctions target Syria’s Real Estate Bank, which provides mortgage finance, as well as Mada Transport and the Cham Investment Group, two arms of a Syrian investment firm which the EU says provides funds to Assad’s government.
However, unlike the US sanctions, the EU measures do not ban investment in the country from EU member states, which may mitigate some of the economic impact of the oil ban on the Assad regime.
Syria’s Attorney General, quit the government last week, posting a resignation statement on Youtube. His current whereabouts are not known, and he is thought to have been arrested.
Gulf states are likely to fill the gap left by the absense of Syrian oil in EU markets, with Saudi Arabia in particular looking able to step in to replace lost production. Like Saudi, Syria’s oil output is sulphur rich, making gulf crudes a suitable replacement feedstock to European refineries.
