Investors return to Syria with optimism and curiosity to help rebuild its energy sector

Damascus welcomes foreign businesses at first major international oil and gas exhibition since regime change

Damascus is holding its first major international oil and gas exhibition since the fall of the former regime, bringing together global investors in a striking shift after years of isolation as a pariah capital.

The Syria International Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition (SOG), held at the Damascus International Fairgrounds from Wednesday to Saturday, opened its doors the day after President Ahmad Al Shara and the Syrian Petroleum Company met major US energy company Chevron to discuss co-operation on offshore oil and gas exploration.

Since the fall of the regime a year ago, Syria has signed a slew of agreements in the energy sector, including with US companies ConocoPhillips and Novaterra, the UAE’s Dana Gas, and Qatar’s UCC Holding.

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SPC vice president Waleed Youssef said Damascus had also been in contact with French giant Total on Wednesday to discuss offshore surveying. He added that five agreements in the energy sector had been signed in the past month and that he expected contracts to materialise this week.

“We’ve turned the page, and now we’re only thinking about the future. We’re focusing on investment, on developing our oil and gasfields,” he told The National.

“Welcome to Syria. Syria is a safe country, and investments are everywhere for the oil and gas sector.”

Mr Youssef clarified that companies which have shown interest in the sector come from everywhere, including the US, UK, France, China and the Arab world.

Russia, a long-time player in the energy sector under the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad, also remains a potential investor. “There are contacts with Russia, but nothing official yet,” he said.

Syria has significant hydrocarbon reserves and potential, as well as offshore resources that remain unexplored. But 13 years of civil war have left energy infrastructure in tatters, impeding the full exploitation of its resources, leaving it able to produce only a fraction of its energy needs.

The lack of a political agreement with the semi-autonomous north-east, run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, also remains a major obstacle. Much of the country's oil and gasfields are located in the region.

In March 2025, Damascus and the SDF signed a deal to begin negotiations on the joint management of oil and gas resources, which has yet to be implemented.

At the exhibition's Italian pavilion, Marina Scognamiglio from the Italian Trade Agency, which left the country 15 years ago, said they were participating to show that “we believe in Syria’s reconstruction and revival”.

“We are here to help our companies do business with Syrian partners,” she said.

Oil storage tanks in the port of Tartus, Syria. Reuters

A success story

Italy is the most represented European country, with seven companies at its pavilion. Its ambassador to Syria, Stefano Ravagnan, also attended.

Gulf companies in the oilfield services sector were also widely represented, including Saudi-based geophysical and surveying company Argas, Taqa – the Industrialisation and Energy Services Company part-owned by the Public Investment Fund – and the Arabian Drilling Company, as well as UAE-based energy services and engineering firm Damson Energy.

“We are here to start our operations. Our main target is to increase gas production, which will help the country’s economy,” said Houssam Bassal from Taqa.

He added that he was seeing a growing number of international companies compared with previous events. “It’s developing very fast,” he added.

Western investors have shown both interest and caution. Political stability remains crucial. Syria’s political transition has at times been uneasy, marked by bouts of sectarian violence that Mr Al Shara has struggled to contain.

Israel has also launched waves of strikes across the country, including on the capital, destroying much of Syria’s heavy arsenal and seizing swathes of land in the south.

The exhibition started the same day Israel launched renewed strikes on Beit Jinn in southern Syria, where an earlier attack killed 13 this week.

“The challenge is to find a geopolitical balance, because this is very important for doing business and for growth,” Ms Scognamiglio said.

A makeshift oil refinery in Hasaka, Syria. Reuters

Klaus Drittenpreis, chief executive of the Special Fittings and Trading company (SF&T), which has offices in Switzerland and Turkey, said that Syrian banks’ slow reconnection to the international financial system, after years of debilitating sanctions, could also pose a major obstacle to investment.

But, he insisted, Syria has many assets. “It has considerable resources in both oil and gas. From extraction to refining to petrochemical production, there is quite a lot to do,” he said.

“We're here out of curiosity and to assess what the market has to offer.”

A British participant, who works for a company advising foreign investment into higher-risk markets like Syria, said he was “cautiously optimistic”.

“The speed of change here has been really, really impressive. There's a huge amount of western interest,” he said. But he added that, without an agreement with the SDF, most of the projects would not materialise.

“It would be great if Syria became a success story,” he said.