Energy official estimates losses to gas plant in NE Syria at $100 million
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Director of the only gas plant in northeastern Syria said on Monday the damages inflicted to the Sweidiya gas plant in the countryside of Derik, far northeastern Syria, as a result of the Turkish strikes are estimated in millions of dollars.
Agid Abdulmajid, Director of the Sweidiya gas plant, told North Press the losses of the plant are estimated at around $100 million.
Since Oct. 5 and until Monday, 172 sites in areas and cities in north and northeast Syria have been stuck by Turkish airstrikes, shells, and drone attacks, targeting residential areas, military posts and infrastructure, including oil fields, gas plants, power stations, and others, according to the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press.
The strikes took place following a statement by Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, in which he threatened to strike a broader range of targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the Ankara attack.
On Oct. 1, two individuals carried out a bomb attack in front of the building of the Ministry of Interior in Turkey’s Ankara injuring two police officers.
On Oct. 4, Fidan claimed that the two attackers had been trained in Syria. “From now on, all infrastructure, large facilities and energy facilities belonging to (armed Kurdish groups) in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets for our security forces,” he threatened.
The filling of household gas cylinders with an average of 15,000 cylinders, weighing 150 tons, per day was stopped, in addition to a halt in feeding the power generating gas turbines, which produce an estimated 500,000 cubic meters of clean gas every day, due to the suspension of all oil and gas wells, according to Abdulmajid.
Ziyad Restum, co-chair of the Energy Office of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), told North Press on Sunday, Turkey’s targeting of the Sweidiya gas plant put other power stations out of service in Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria.
At the gas plant, the three cooling circuit fans were completely damaged, noting that the plant cannot be operated without this main plant circuit, refineries and Sweidiya’s main conversion station, and the stations in the cities and towns, according to Abdulmajid.
The director added that the estimated value of returning these facilities to an acceptable operation state is estimated at about $100 million, in addition to securing a competent technical staff and workers for a specific period, and securing the required pieces specifically from the foreign manufacturing companies.
He noted that the gas turbines that generate electricity were damaged during the attack on the plant. Additionally, the oil company’s turbines were damaged by more than 50 percent as well as the main conversion centers in Sweidiya plant and in the majority of the cities and towns of Hasakah.
More than 10 major oil stations and substations were damaged, whereby oil extraction and pumping were halted entirely.