Venezuela delivers diesel to Syria

Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday a Venezuelan oil tanker with 35,000 tonnes of diesel had docked in Syria a day earlier and another was being prepared. "A Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tonnes of diesel docked in Syria yesterday and Venezuela is preparing another tanker which will come to Syria soon," state news agency SANA quoted Alao as saying. Ship tracking data on Reuters shows that the Negra Hipolita, which is managed by state oil firm PDVSA, left Venezuela at the start of May and docked at the Syrian port of Banias this week. Venezuela angered Washington last year by supplying fuel to Iran, which is also subject to Western sanctions on fuel supplies. Alao said the Syrian oil industry has lost around $4 billon since European Union governments agreed on Sept 2 to ban imports of Syrian oil. European states used to buy some 90 percent of the country's oil exports. Sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government are in response to the bloody crackdown on a revolt that the United Nations claims has cost more than 9,000 lives. The minister said domestic production of diesel covered around 50 percent of the country's needs and "there are discussions to secure materials from Iran and Algeria". A joint Russia-Syrian committee is also looking at the possibility of "concluding a long-term contract with Russia to supply diesel and cooking gas", SANA quoted Alao as saying.