Syria's oil production has dropped by 95 percent since the start of the conflict in Syria almost three years ago, forcing the government to boost imports of the vital material from other countries and increase its subsidy to meet people's need.
Syrian Oil Minister Suleiman al-Abbas said on Monday that Syria 's oil production dropped to 28,000 barrels a day, down from 380, 000 ahead of the crisis, indicating that wild damages were inflicted on the country's oil sector due to the current crisis and the Western economic sanctions on oil and gas sectors.
He indicated that terrorist attacks dramatically increased in 2013 on oil and gas infrastructure, causing a retreat in production and a difficulty in transporting oil to areas of consumption.
The minister added that the total crude gas produced in Syria in 2013 was estimated at 17 million cubic meters a day.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Protection Samir Qadhi Amin said recently that despite the rising prices of oil derivatives, these oil and gas materials are still subsidized by the government.
He was quoted by the pro-government al-Watan newspaper as saying that Syria now only produced four percent of its former productive capacity, adding that the government imports the remaining required quantity from abroad.
He said that Syria has remarkably increased the real government subsidy for these oil derivatives, revealing that the value of the government's support of oil derivatives amounted to 226.18 billion Syrian pounds, or two billion U.S. dollars, in 2013.
The oil sector was a pillar of Syria's economy ahead of the outbreak of events, with the country producing about 380,000 barrels, exporting around 130,000 barrels a day and putting the rest under domestic use.
At the beginning of the crisis, the Europe Union has slapped Syria with harsh economic sanctions including an embargo on purchasing or transporting Syrian oil and prohibiting companies from dealing with Syria or investing in it, in addition to withdrawing experts and staff, suspending funding, and imposing sanctions on Syrian petroleum companies.
By 2011, all foreign companies operating in the oil field have left the country.
