Shipping the First Shipment of Syrian Oil After Lifting Western Sanctions

The Swiss company Vitol, the largest independent oil trading company in the world, is preparing to ship the first batch of Syrian crude oil after the lifting of American and European sanctions on Damascus.

According to informed sources, the shipment will be transported today, Wednesday, to a refinery in Italy, in a move that represents the beginning of reintegrating the Syrian energy sector into global markets after years of isolation.

This comes after Washington and Brussels announced in the past two months the lifting of economic restrictions on Syria to support its struggling economy. The country's production before 2011 was estimated at hundreds of thousands of barrels per day before sharply declining with the outbreak of the crisis.