ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The state-run Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with US-based HKN Energy to rehabilitate and restore production capacity at Syria's largest hydrocarbon field, located in northeast Syria (Rojava), by the end of next year.
SPC Director Youssef Qablaoui and HKN CEO Mark Rollins "discussed plans to develop production" at the Rumeilan field complex in Rojava’s Hasaka province, "using modern technologies, along with the targeted timeline for gradually raising field output to around 250,000 barrels per day [bpd] by the end of 2027," the state-owned company said in a statement.
"They also reviewed rehabilitation projects to be executed by HKN to enhance operational efficiency," the statement added, affirming "the importance of leveraging national expertise and giving local residents the opportunity to participate in operations and development work, in a way that supports local development and bolsters the oil and gas sector."
Rumeilan produced between 180,000 and 200,000 bpd before the Syrian war (2011-2024), accounting for roughly half of the country's total oil output. The complex includes more than 1,300 oil wells and multiple gas processing facilities spread across eastern Hasaka.
Kurdish People's Protection Units - later unified under Rojava’s de facto military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - took control of the fields after Syrian government forces withdrew in 2012. The complex has since served as a primary revenue source for the Rojava administration.
The agreement between the SPC and HKN comes months after Damascus and the SDF reached a 14-point integration agreement in late January, with its third clause stating that “the Syrian Government shall take control of all border crossings, oil fields, and gas fields in the region [under SDF control], with protection secured by regular forces to ensure the return of resources to the Syrian state, while considering the special case of Kurdish areas."
