Visit to Damascus 1 May 2025

Our CEO John Bell and Senior Adviser Sir Alan Duncan led a senior Gulfsands delegation on a visit to Syria last week. Our visit represented the first formal visit from the senior leadership of an international Energy company to the newly formed Ministry of Energy. 

This was an opportunity for us to reconnect with friends and colleagues, and reaffirm our commitment to the future of Syria. 

We held a number of important and successful meetings, none more so than an audience with Syria’s Energy Minister, His Excellency Mohammed al-Bashir. 

Mr Bell presented Gulfsands’ strategy for re-entry to His Excellency, including an explanation of how we can help Syria restore and revitalise its energy sector at large. We are grateful to His Excellency for his recognition of our efforts to date and his clear keenness to cooperate especially in respect of the operation and management of our Block 26 asset once circumstances allow it – which includes clarity on international sanctions and on the security situation in respect of the North-East of Syria. 

We also met with our technical and Damascus teams to discuss the re-entry plan for Block 26, as well as other key stakeholders in-country, from both government and industry, including former Deputy Oil Minister Ryad Jobasi. 

This was an intense but ultimately successful visit. All parties agreed to strengthen their cooperation, and we made it clear that Gulfsands is a key partner ready to contribute to Syria’s economic renewal. The team looks forward to returning to Syria soon as the situation continues to evolve.