(UPI/Washington Times) Despite the Syria Accountability Act endorsed by Washington last December, last week the Syrian government awarded a contract to U.S. Improvid Petroleum Recovery and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for exclusive oil exploration, prospecting, and production in the northeastern part of the country. "The U.S. share of oil investments in the country is the most important....The new contract which was signed in Damascus after the American president endorsed the Syria Accountability Act raises suggestions that American oil companies might have received guarantees from the U.S. administration that the act won't be implemented," said one analyst. U.S. oil investments in Syria are estimated at $600 million. Analysts noted that a month after Bush signed the Act into law, the U.S. administration has not taken any concrete step to implement or discuss the issue of implementation.
2004-01-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive