Making of Syrian Crisis

Abstract

The West Asian region holds a critical position in the global hydrocarbon regime. The largest source of oil and huge natural gas reserves have made it a strategically sensitive region. The excessive presence of external powers, especially the United States which at one stage defined its national security in terms of secure oil supply from the region, has made the region a centre of competition and conflict. It is well documented that oil was one of the crucial motives behind the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein. It is the contention of this article that the Syrian crisis too can be explained in terms of competitive politics of global and regional powers, to possess regional hegemony and have control over energy resources.

Having looked at the changing global energy dynamics, the article evaluates the ongoing Syrian war, emphasizing that the crisis was significantly, if not primarily, due to the energy pipeline geopolitics and not confined to merely a regime change or a sectarian factor. In the years up to 2011, Syria was exporting more than 150,000 b/d of crude to the international market, which was not much but a sizeable fraction. The crisis has not just sent Syria’s energy sector into turmoil, but has also caused a serious humanitarian catastrophe. The article also underlines, how the recent finds in the East Mediterranean, especially offshore Syria, which are expected to be around 3,450 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels (bill. Bbls) of oil reserves, pose a serious competition for the Gulf.

The article is divided into four sections. It begins by underlining the changing energy geopolitics and identifying Syria in the East Mediterranean energy finds. The article then talks about the pipeline geopolitics and the Syrian crisis, which leads to the fourth aspect of the article discussing the regional and external actors, and their stake in the Syrian conflict.