In an effort to bypass US and EU sanctions on oil exports, after signing contracts with "friendly" countries, Syria will start exporting crude oil to new markets, Syrian private newspaper Al-Watan reported.

"Syria has agreed to sign contracts with Russian, Iranian, Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian firms to supply Syria with oil products" Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Sufian Allaw told the newspaper.

The minister said that discussions with more than 50 oil companies are currently underway to expedite the export of Syrian crude oil, adding that the government has already signed three contracts that could be implemented in November. However, he provided no details of the new agreements.

"Finding new partners in the oil market is a good step, although the government will sell at low prices, compared to [former] EU trades, and buy at higher prices," a Syrian economist told Syria Today on condition of anonymity. He believes that due to international pressure and the need to quickly find an alternative solution to meet people's needs in the coming winter, the government may have to agree to less profitable conditions. Also, the cost of transporting oil such long distances will be much higher, which the economist speculated could push Syria to lower the price by as much as 25 percent.

In September, the EU banned investment in the country's oil sector, reinforcing its earlier ban on imports of Syria's oil. This greatly damaged the country's economy, as the oil trade contributes up to 28 percent of Syria's annual revenue. Before these sanctions, about 95 percent of the oil Syria exported was sent to Europe to be refined there. 31 percent was processed by companies in Germany, and another 31 percent in Italy, with France and the Netherlands taking 11 and 9 percent respectively.

Allaw did not deny that there are some obstacles to the new exporting process, particularly regarding the transfer of oil to tankers because of security problems, and securing financial credits, insurance and reinsurance on these carriers. "We have been obliged to reduce production because we don't have enough storage capacity, but once we are able to start exporting again, we will increase it," the minister affirmed.

Meanwhile, French Total and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, the largest international oil producers in Syria, are no longer being paid the by the Syrian government, according to the Financial Times. Syria's state-owned oil marketing firm Syrtol, which is responsible for selling Syrian crude to foreign buyers, also cancelled a tender to sell 50,000 tons of naphtha. "[Syrians] are keeping it in their domestic gasoline pool," a London-based trader told Reuters, adding that UK traders were told not to buy this product.