Gasoline shipped to Syria begins moving by road to Iraq, Syrian official says

By Feras Dalatey

DAMASCUS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Gasoline shipped to Syria has begun moving by road to Iraq, a senior Syrian oil official told Reuters, establishing a two-way energy corridor through a route Baghdad has used to export fuel since disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq began using the Syrian route after the Iran war cut off the Strait of Hormuz, its main Gulf trade route. Baghdad has said it plans to develop alternative routes through Syria even if traffic through Hormuz normalises.

Transport of fuel oil had so far been from Iraq to Syrian ports before establishment of the return leg.

The first cargo to Iraq, about 32,800 metric tons of gasoline aboard the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Avanti, was unloaded into storage tanks at Syria's Baniyas refinery before being loaded onto trucks this week, said Tareq Shallash, director of the Refining Directorate at state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC).

Shallash said 77 tanker trucks have already left Baniyas for the Iraqi border and loading was continuing, adding that further shipments were expected.

The gasoline was neither produced in Syria nor drawn from stocks intended for the Syrian market, he said.

The operation is being carried out under a transit contract between SPC and Qatar's UCC Holding, which Shallash said was the supplier and was overseeing transportation.

"A contract was signed between SOMO and the Qatari company to supply Iraq with improved gasoline through the port of Banias by road tankers, and the supplies have in fact been delivered on a regular basis," Iraqi oil ministry spokesperson Saleem al-Rikabi told Reuters on Friday when asked for comment.

Another Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, Gaita, loaded gasoline at the Port of Houston before sailing to Baniyas for discharge, LSEG shipping data showed.

Reuters reported in July that Iraqi fuel oil transported by road to Baniyas then by sea had reached the US for the first time.

Shallash said the current transit contract was limited to gasoline, although the route could later be expanded to other petroleum products, crude oil or other goods under future agreements.