“Today, it’s clear that the security situation still doesn’t allow us to operate, but I think it is a positive initiative to come here, to Damascus,” member of France’s presidential delegation, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne (L), told reporters
Head of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne, visiting Damascus alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, said Tuesday that Syria could become an important transit country from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea, offering “alternative routes” to the Strait of Hormuz.
“Today, it’s clear that the security situation still doesn’t allow us to operate, but I think it is a positive initiative to come here, to Damascus,” he told reporters just before news broke of two bombs exploding near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron had spent the night.
“It is a country at the crossroads of the Middle East,” he added on the sidelines of Macron’s visit.
The closing of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israeli war on Iran only increased Syria’s importance, according to him, as “it is becoming clear that if we want to invest in the Middle East, we’ll need to find alternative routes”.
In April, Iraq announced that it had begun transporting oil by truck through Syria for re-export because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The two countries discussed last month mechanisms for the transit of energy supplies and a project to rehabilitate the oil pipeline linking them.
TotalEnergies has signed a memorandum of understanding with Syria covering an offshore exploration block in the Mediterranean, but the company does not yet have any other specific projects in the country, Pouyanne noted.
His visit to Damascus, the first since the end of the Syrian civil war in 2024, is intended to meet with authorities and establish initial contacts, he said.
“We should give the government time to take control of the country. We shouldn’t ask too much” after more than 13 years of civil war.
“We need to be a little patient,” he added.
