Setback for Syria's oil refining sector

The two sides had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2007 to construct a $1.7bn refinery at Deir el-Zour, which was to have processed crude from neighbouring Iraq. Last month, oil minister Sufian Alao said the deal with Kuwait's Noor Financial had been cancelled, but gave no reason. The likeliest explanation – and the one adopted by Syrian officials – is that Noor could not raise the necessary funds for the scheme. Kuwait's investment banks were the worst affected of all Middle Eastern financial institutions by the recession and Noor reported a $41m loss in the first nine months of 2009. Syrian officials are now concentrating their efforts on developing a separate greenfield refinery,