Almost exactly 12 year ago, we explained that the sequence of events that would define the face of the middle east, and spark one of the bloodiest conflicts in the region in ages, namely the relentless proxy war seeking control over Syria, was prompted by nothing more than access to commodities in general, and a Qatari gas pipeline passing through Syria and onward to Europe in particular.
Mystery Sponsor Of Weapons And Money To Syrian "Rebels" Revealed http://t.co/jCkJTFOeKq
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 16, 2013
And so, the war that saw the birth and death (and eventual subsequent rebirth) of ISIS, the emergence of countless CIA-funded Al Qaeda spinoffs, and ultimately the fall of the Assad regime, has gone full circle, because as Reuters reports,
Qatar - the country whose massive natural gas deposits started it all - is set to provide Syria with gas via Jordan, ostensibly to "improve the nation's meagre electricity supply" and also to boost Syria's new Al-Qaeda rulers.
The move, which is being spun as "the most significant tangible support for the new administration in Damascus by Qatar, one of the region's sternest opponents of the now-deposed Bashar al-Assad and strongest backers of the rebels-turned rulers who replaced him", is really just the first step in gas pipeline access from Qatar to Europe.
What is just as interesting is that according to the report, unnamed U.S. officials were quoted saying "the gas deal had a nod of approval from President Donald Trump's administration without saying how this was communicated." Which is strange because Trump has been very eager to use US LNG exports to Europe to further balance the US trade deficit with the continent.
Qatar's state news agency said an agreement had been signed between Qatar's development fund and Jordan's energy ministry to provide Damascus with "an approved supply of natural gas" via Jordan to help address Syria's electricity shortage, without mentioning Syria's new rulers or Washington. Qatar's fund will provide Jordan's energy ministry with a grant to supply Syria with the gas, the fund told Reuters.
Jordanian energy minister Saleh al-Kharabsheh told Jordan's state news agency the initiative would be fully funded by Qatar's fund.
The gas will be received at Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba and pumped to Syria via the Arab Gas Pipeline, Jordanian energy minister al-Kharabsheh said. A segment of the pipeline runs from Aquaba north across Jordan to Syria. It is shown in the map below.
This initiative, far from predicated by Qatari concern about the welfare - or electricity needs - of Syria's new Al-Qaeda leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa who was formerly head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group, is merely the first step to reincarnating Qatar's ambitions to provide Europe via a yet to be constructed gas pipeline while using Syria's puppet regime as a smokescreen....
... to allow transit of Qatar's copious and cheap gas deposits located in the North Field, the largest natural gas field in the world, which for years has been in desperate need of clients.
The gas - in the current iteration - would be transferred from Jordan via a pipeline to the Deir Ali power plant in southern Syria. The move will initially boost the Deir Ali power plant's output by 400 megawatts per day, an amount that would "gradually increase", according to the Qatari fund's statement. Estimates of Syria's recent power capacity range up to around 4,000 MW.
The U.S. green light and efforts to encourage a deal between Kurdish forces in Syria's north and Damascus suggest the US remains actively engaged in Syria, despite Washington moving more cautiously than European states to ease sanctions.
Ever since the latest US-backed coup in Syria late last year (not to be confused with the US-backed coup in Ukraine), the country has been suffering from severe power shortages, with state-supplied electricity available just two or three hours a day in most areas. Damage to the electricity grid means that generating or supplying more power is only part of the problem.
Damascus used to receive the bulk of its oil for power generation from Iran, but supplies have been cut off since the terrorist Islamist cell of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the ouster of Tehran-allied former president Assad in December, and was installed as the new ruler of Syria with western blessings.
The interim government has pledged to quickly ramp up power supply, partly by importing electricity from Jordan and using floating power barges that have yet to arrive.
Jordan has reportedly received U.S. approval to move forward with the supply of up to 250 MW of electricity during non-peak hours. However, Syria still needs to make fixes to its electricity grid and solve other technical issues before the supply, expected at around 250 megawatts during non-peak hours, can begin, the sources said.
"The internal network in Syria is not yet ready to receive this and needs a significant amount of work. Additionally, some matters are still unclear about financing of the agreement," said Ibrahim Seif, a former Jordanian minister of energy and mineral resources.
A Western diplomat briefed on the Qatari gas plan said it came as part of an effort by Doha to follow up political backing from Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar with tangible help to support Syria's new rulers.
"They are very keen to finally give something, even if it won't make a huge difference," the diplomat said, while not saying that Qatar's leaders are far more interested in taking the project to its next stage, where Northern Field gas will be directly transported by Syria via pipeline, and from there move on to Turkey and onward, to Europe.
Gulf backing has largely not been matched by official, tangible assistance due to U.S. sanctions on Syria, despite a waiver issued in January that allowed for some transactions, including on energy. But the exemption did not remove any sanctions, and states and entities looking to engage with Syria have sought additional guarantees.
Reuters reported last month that Qatar was holding off providing Syria's new rulers with funds to increase public sector pay due to uncertainty over whether the transfers would breach U.S. sanctions.
