Turkey and Syria announce energy cooperation deal

On August 19, 2026, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced during a visit to Damascus that Turkey is prepared to collaborate with Syria on oil and natural gas exploration. Accompanied by his Syrian counterpart, Mohammad al-Bashir, Bayraktar confirmed that the Turkish state-owned firm TPAO and private companies are ready to initiate seismic research and exploratory drilling both onshore and offshore in Syria. This initiative follows Turkey's ongoing energy exploration efforts near the coasts of Somalia and Libya.

In addition to hydrocarbons, the two nations agreed to upgrade their electricity infrastructure in the coming weeks, aiming to triple their power transfer capacity to over 800 megawatts. Furthermore, the Turkish state mining company MTA IC and the Syrian General Directorate of Mineral Resources signed a document regarding phosphate resources, which may lead to a future joint venture. While Sigma Live describes this agreement as non-binding, the Rik News source refers to it as a memorandum of understanding.