The first shipment of diesel from Saudi Aramco to Syria has arrived at the Baniyas oil terminal, where the Syrian Petroleum Company began unloading about 63,784 metric tons of the fuel from the tanker Starling on Monday.
The cargo is the first under an agreement between Aramco and the Syrian Petroleum Company, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Tuesday.
Jamil Wahoud, head of tanker berthing and pilotage at the Syrian Petroleum Company, described the cargo as a trial shipment intended to strengthen cooperation with Aramco.
He said the delivery followed the processing of the first documentary credit for petroleum product imports through the Central Bank of Syria. The mechanism gives the transaction an official banking channel and could pave the way for broader cooperation, he said.
The Central Bank of Syria said on October 11 that it had processed the first documentary credit for the Syrian Petroleum Company, in coordination with a major US bank, to import petroleum products from Aramco. It said the transaction was the first of its kind in 14 years.
The value of the cargo and the terms of the supply agreement were not disclosed.
Wahoud said the company is working to meet domestic demand for petroleum products by securing supplies from reliable sources.
