Shadowy US Firm Run by Former Diplomat Cinches Syria Oil Deal with Kurds
A Delaware-based company formed by a former American diplomat, a CEO of a
private mercenary company and an old hand in the oil business has inked a
deal with U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels to develop crude in Syria.
by Raul Diego
August 05th, 2020
By Raul Diego
In November of last year, the Pentagon's assistant to the secretary of
defense for public affairs assured reporters during a press briefing that
"the revenue from [Syrian oil fields] is not going to the U.S. [It] is going
to the SDF", adding that the purpose of the mission was "to defeat ISIS" and
that "securing of the oil fields [was] a subordinate task to that mission",
which was "to deny ISIS the revenues from that oil infrastructure."
At that time, however, a recently incorporated company in the Delaware
jurisdiction named Delta Crescent Energy LLC had already been communicating
with members of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the
northeastern region of Syria for several months about developing and
exporting crude oil from the Kurdish-occupied territory.
Already in April 2019, the new oil concern had received a license from the
U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to carry
on with the work; the same Treasury department that in 2018 had levied
sanctions against the Syrian government's "Petroleum Procurement Network,"
targeting companies in Lebanon and the UAE which deliver fuel and natural
gas to Syria.
The Syrian foreign ministry issued a statement on Sunday declaring the deal
to be illegal and designed to steal Syrian crude. "This agreement is null
and void and has no legal basis," read the statement from Damascus, which
condemned "in the strongest terms the agreement signed between al-Qasd
militia (SDF) and an American oil company."
The loose band of Kurdish rebels now known as the SDF was formed after U.S.
airstrikes allowed them to take the Syrian city of Kobani in 2015.
Subsequent military assistance and training by U.S. forces helped
consolidate the 60,000-man army, which has been pivotal in American
destabilization efforts in Syria.
Shell company
Delta Crescent Energy LLC was formed in February 2019 in the tax haven
jurisdiction of Delaware and lists its address as 1209 North Orange Street
in Wilmington, DE; a "tiny brick building," which is also home to more than
300,000 business entities. Among its neighbors at the cramped address are
companies like Apple, eBay, and Walmart, just to name a few.
The company's officers include George W. Bush's ambassador to Denmark, James
P. Cain - a sports franchise owner who once called for the execution of
Chelsea Manning for leaking diplomatic cables to Wikileaks; former Delta
Force commander and TigerSwan CEO, James Reese and John P. Dorrier Jr.
founder of UK-based, Houston, TX-located, GulfSands Petroleum, which has
carried out business in Syria before.
Reese, whose private mercenary company TigerSwan infiltrated and surveilled
Dakota Access Pipeline protestors at Standing Rock in 2016, told Fox News in
2018 that "the whole eastern part of Syria" belonged to the U.S. "That's
ours," he continued, "We can't give that up."
The secretive oil deal was a topic of conversation during a Senate Foreign
Relations Committee hearing on July 30. When Sen. Lindsey Graham asked
Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo if he was supportive of the agreement, he
testified that "We are," adding that it had taken "longer" than anticipated,
but it "was now in implementation, and it can be very powerful."
Oil market viability
Graham praised the blatantly illegal arrangement, saying that it would
"improve the viability of the northern oil fields to make them more
productive." Syrian oil fields were producing approximately 380,000 barrels
a day until U.S.-backed rebels took over the oil-rich northeastern region of
the country after "ousting" ISIS forces - themselves spawned from the EU,
the U.S., and the UK - reducing production to less than 60,000 barrels a
day.
The negotiations were brokered by U.S. government officials from the State
Department. James Jeffrey, United States Special Representative for Syria
Engagement and his deputy, Joel Rayburn were charged with cementing the
contract, which the Trump administration still cynically claims was done on
behalf of the "Syrian people" and that the U.S. "government does not own,
control, or manage the oil resources in Syria. The populations in areas
liberated from ISIS make their own decisions on local governance."
The Pentagon's spokesperson, Jessica McNulty added that the DoD "does not
have an affiliation with any private companies in regard to the oil fields
in northeast Syria" and in the same breath expressed how the American
military was there to literally protect the interests of the oil company by
"securing [the] critical petroleum infrastructure in northeast Syria to deny
ISIS access to critical resources and revenue." McNulty, however, did not
mention that the Delaware-based company has plans to sell the oil to
"various customers in the region," including Assad, himself.