Total of France has stopped oil production in Syria in compliance with recent EU sanctions as a growing number of international companies operating in the country are considering taking similar steps.

Royal Dutch Shell is pulling out of Syria after the European Union sanctioned Al-Furat Petroleum Company, the joint-venture firm through which the Dutch company is extracting oil in the country.

The Ministry of Petroleum is beginning to find new buyers for its crude after an embargo imposed this summer by the EU forced it to scale back output by a third.

Russia’s Stroytransgaz has announced that it had signed an extension and amendment agreement on the North and South Middle Area Gas Development project.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has published its list of fees for the extraction of salt in the country.

Syria produced an average of 378,091 barrels of crude oil per day in the first nine months of the year, according to the Ministry of Oil, as international sanctions led to a reduction in output in the third quarter.

The cost of subsidizing oil products by the Government amounted to SYP 181 billion, or USD 3.62 billion, in the first nine months of this year, according to the Ministry of Oil.

Syria exported 2.37 million tons of phosphate in the first nine months of this year, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Updated November 21: The consumption of heating oil in Syria jumped last month as the coming winter season is leading a growing number of Syrians to store the product, while attacks on the distribution network are also disrupting supplies.

Total of France has become the latest oil company operating in Syria to acknowledge that it had stopped receiving payments from the Syrian Government for its crude exports.

IPR, an independent American oil company, said that it was continuing its exploration works in Syria.

Oil companies operating in Syria are increasingly worried about the potential impact of the continued political unrest and recent international sanctions on their industry.

Syria has signed three export contracts for the sale of its crude oil and is in negotiations with 50 other companies and traders, Sufian Al-Allao, the Minister of Petroleum said.

The largest shareholder and vice-chairman of Kulczyk Oil Ventures, Jan Kulczyk, has confirmed the suspension of his company’s operations in Syria because of security and financing concerns.

The supply of gas oil at government-sponsored prices is becoming increasingly scarce in various parts of the country, although Damascus remained little affected until now.