Crackdown intensifies in oil region – Shell pledges to keep paying Syrian regime

The crackdown on the Syrian uprising has intensified in the eastern oil region around Deir Az-Zour. According to the FT, The towns of Mayadin and Burhama were attacked on Wednesday, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group, with tanks and machine guns used during mass arrest campaigns. Another local resident said she had...

Gulfsands ends payments to Assad’s cousin – but continues supporting Syrian regime with $8 million every week

Documents revealed by the FT amid concerns raised by Avaaz show that Gulfsands Petroleum, the London-listed oil and gas company, agreed to give a share of profits from its production activities in Syria to a company controlled by Rami Makhlouf, the first cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The company has also paid more than...

Is Syrian propaganda tool and oil company Gulfsands dodging EU sanctions?

Propaganda tool? London-based Gulfsands Petroleum is operating as a propaganda tool for the Assad regime. In an interview from last Wednesday, the company’s communications director Ken Judge made statements that claimed Islamic extremists had infiltrated protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule. Yet the Syrian uprising is evidently supported by a broad swathe of the...