Russia has emerged as Syria’s dominant oil supplier, with shipments rising about 75 percent to roughly 60,000 barrels per day this year despite Damascus’s pivot toward the West and lingering public anger over Moscow’s military backing of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported on Friday.

The figures, based on calculations drawn from official announcements and ship-tracking data, show Moscow has filled the gap left by Iran, Assad’s longtime patron, which halted crude deliveries after his government collapsed in December 2024, according to Reuters.

While the volumes are negligible by Russian export standards, they cover roughly a third of Syrian demand, estimated by the state-run Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) and energy ministry officials at 120,000 to 150,000 barrels per day, according to the report. Domestic output has fallen to about 35,000 bpd, a fraction of the 350,000 bpd produced before Syria’s 14-year civil war.

Two analysts and three Syrian officials told the news outlet that the trade reflects economic necessity in Damascus while extending Moscow’s leverage in a country where Russia retains two naval and air bases. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the relationship risks straining ties with the European Union and Washington but that the government has few alternatives.

“If the United States were to fail to reach an agreement or settlement with Russia regarding Ukraine, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it told Syria overnight to stop buying these oil shipments,” Syrian economist Karam Shaar told Reuters. He said Damascus was aware of the risks and was seeking other suppliers.

An SPC official told Reuters that Damascus had so far unsuccessfully sought an oil deal with Turkey, an ally of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government. Maritime analytics firm SynMax said in the report that years of conflict and financial isolation had left Russian-linked networks among the few viable options for Syrian buyers, and that “a transition toward conventional international supply chains is unlikely to occur immediately.”

Russia supplied 16.8 million barrels via 19 cargoes between late February and the end of 2025, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters. By contrast, all of Syria’s 22.2 million barrels of crude imports in 2024 came from Iran, the data showed.

The news outlet tracked 21 vessels, all under Western sanctions, arriving at Syrian ports from Russia on a near-weekly basis. The fleet operates under flags including Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Comoros, Madagascar, Oman and Russia, according to LSEG data cited in the report. Part of the supply chain relies on ship-to-ship transfers near Greece, Cyprus or Egypt, SynMax said.

Among the blacklisted vessels Reuters identified were the Comoros-flagged Albarraq Z, Guinea-flagged Aether, Madagascar-flagged Briont, and Oman-flagged Carma and Lynx, according to the report. 

The Central Bank of Syria reactivated its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York only in March, opening wider banking communication with the global financial system for the first time since 2011, the report said.