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Oil giant Shell to quit Syria due to EU sanctions

02 December 2011 18:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Royal Dutch Shell has quit its activities in Syria following new EU sanctions imposed on the country’s oil industry on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The safety of our employees is our top priority. We hope the situation will improve soon for the Syrians," a Shell spokesman told Dutch news agency ANP. The exact consequences of Shell leaving Syria are yet unknown.

The EU added three oil companies to the sanctions list on Friday, Syria Trading Oil Company, General Petroleum Corporation and Al Furat Petroleum Company. Shell is a minority partner of the latter one.

The companies were blacklisted by the EU due to the country’s suppression of protesters.

In May this year, the European Union already imposed sanctions on President Bashar al-AssadAssad himself, followed by sanctions against Syria’s largest telecom companies and companies connected to the army in September.