A Dutch NGO has sked Shell Oil to suspend its operations in Syria.
IKV Pax Christi, a Dutch Christian organization, organized a demonstration at the annual meeting of the Royal Dutch Shell corporation headquarters.
The NGO released on May 13 a research paper entitled “Investments of European companies in Syria,” prepared for the group by Profundo economic research.
In writing their report, researchers Jan Willem van Gelder and Anna van Ojik noted that Shell described its investment in Syria as among the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company.
“As Syria is among the countries against which the US government imposed sanctions, Shell could be subject to sanctions or other penalties in connection with its activities in Syria,” they pointed out.
The two researchers also found that Shell is the second-largest European company in the Syrian oil and gas sector. Its subsidiary, SSPD, is 65 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell and 35 percent owned by a Chinese firm, CNPC. A second subsidiary, Shell South Syria Exploration (SSSE), is exploring for oil in the south of the country, but is not involved in refining or marketing of petroleum products.
“As the Syrian military, police and other security sectors are large consumers of oil products, they probably will use some oil products produced from SSPD's oil as well,” concluded the report.