Baku-Damascus oil talks may bring Syria closer to normalizing ties with Israel

If Azerbaijan, which supplies a third of Israel’s energy, controls gas or oil fields in Syria, it could theoretically export it easily over the border.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Recent talks between Azerbaijan and Syria may bring Israel’s northern neighbor a step closer to normalizing ties with the Jewish state, the Hezbollah-affiliated paper Al-Akhbar reported Wednesday.

At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum earlier this month, new Syrian strongman Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Azerbaijani President Aliyev and offered that Baku’s state oil company SOCAR enter the energy-rich northeastern part of Syria to find and extract gas and/or oil that could bring much-needed revenue to his nation’s coffers.

As Azerbaijan is a strong ally of Israel, the Lebanese paper noted that this could be a way of sending a “reassuring message” to the Jewish state.

Baku is a major energy supplier for Israel, exporting one third of the country’s oil needs, while Israel is one of Azerbaijan’s main weapons suppliers.

In addition, SOCAR is heavily investing in Israel’s gas sector, having been awarded last month an offshore exploration deal off of Israel’s coast along with two partners and reportedly eying another agreement on a second exploration zone.

The Lebanese report also quoted Turkish newspaper Milli Gazeta as saying that “Damascus’ attempts to involve SOCAR in oil and gas exploration in Syria are considered a step towards normalization with Israel, as it will be possible to export Syrian oil via SOCAR tankers to Israel itself.”

To date, the oil has flowed through a pipeline from Azerbaijan, through Georgia, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, where it is loaded on container ships for the final leg via the Mediterranean Sea.

Although it still maintains low-level diplomatic relations with Israel, Ankara has been especially hostile to Jerusalem since the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023 sparked Israel’s current war, and there have been vociferous protests against allowing the oil flow.

While the Ankara government officially banned exports of Turkish products to Israel, it maintains that, in this case, it serves only as a transit country within the framework of international agreements that it cannot abrogate.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated a decade ago that Syria possessed 2.5 billion barrels of proved oil reserves as well as gas reserves of 240 billion cubic meters. Only a tiny fraction of either commodity is currently being produced due to the civil war that has torn the country apart since 2011. The northeast is mostly controlled by the American-backed, secular Kurdish-based Syria Defense Forces (SDF). which opposed former Syrian dictator Bashir Assad.

The SDF recently agreed to unify with the Islamist force that separately fought Assad and took over the country in a lightning-strike in December.

The deal included handing control of its energy fields to Damascus, although the moves have not yet been seen on the ground.

Turkey was al-Sharaa’s major backer during the fight against Assad, and it openly states its desire to increase both its military and business ties in the country, including in the energy sphere.

By involving Baku, al-Sharaa is playing a careful political game, according to one source familiar with the Antalya talks.

“Syria wants to counterbalance every regional player,” the source told the Middle East Eye. “Having both Turkey and Azerbaijan involved in operating the oil and gas fields would provide a sense of assurance regarding Israel.”

Ahmed al-SharaaAzerbaijanIsrael-Azerbaijan Relationsoil fieldsSyria