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Collective for Syria in Montreal calls on Suncor CEO to come clean on links to Syrian regime

Suncor must immediately withdraw from Syria

Collective for Syria in Montreal calls on Suncor CEO to come clean on links to Syrian regime
Collective for Syria in Montreal calls on Suncor CEO to come clean on links to Syrian regime
Montreal, 20 August 2011 -- In light of two images directly linking Calgary-based Suncor energy company to the Syrian regime, the Collective for Syria in Montreal is calling on Suncor CEO Richard L. George to explain remarks made on CBC's The Current yesterday.
 
Last week, the Collective for Syria in Montreal, a group which formed to support the popular uprising for freedom and justice in Syria, called on Prime Minister Harper to suspend Suncor activities in Syria (read letter: http://cfsmtl.wordpress.com/statement/letter-to-harperlettre-a-harper/).

Asked about the role that Suncor, which owns Petro-Canada, is playing in the brutal repression in Syria, George told the Current, "We're actually not connected to the Assad regime in any way. ... We operate with a partner in Syria, the General Petroleum Corporation, which is a state corporation." (www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/08/19/suncor-syria.html)

 
In fact, the Collective for Syria in Montreal has located a photo of Mr. George seated beside former Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri. A large portrait of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, omnipresent in the country, hangs over their heads. See photo attached. More compromising still, an advertisement for Suncor and Petro-Canada featuring President Bashar al-Assad in a construction helmet, talking to what appears to be a Petro-Canada technician, can be found on the website Syrian Oil and Gas News, www.syria-oil.com/en/ (middle of left column; also attached). The caption reads, "Energy for today and tomorrow."

Despite George's denial, being partners with the state-owned General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) does tie Suncor to the regime. The state corporation reports directly to the Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Sufian Allaw. In any case, semantics aside, there is no effective distance between state, regime and government in Syria.

 
Suncor has a 50-50 partnership with the Syrian regime in a $1.2 billion project in Ebla. The Ebla development currently produces about 80 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to domestic markets. It also has an oil project that began producing about 1000 barrels per day last December. According to Human Rights Watch, "Under Syrian law the government is the major shareholder in the oil and gas sector through its ownership of the Syrian National Gas and Syrian National Oil companies  [now replaced by GPC, according to the GPC website, www.gpc-sy.com]. These two companies have a 50 percent share in every oil and gas project in Syria. In a March 2010 report, the International Monetary Fund estimated that the Syrian government earns approximately €2.1 billion [about CND$3 billion] from oil and gas revenues per year."
 
The Collective for Syria in Montreal calls on Suncor to cease its shameful cooperation with the Syrian regime immediately. Since March of this year, the Syrian regime has been violently repressing a peaceful, legitimate mass uprising for freedom, justice and meaningful democratic change. Suncor is also under criticism for the role it plays in the enormously destructive tar sands project in indigenous territories in northern Alberta.

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