Hussein al-Sharaa, father of Syria’s current president and an energy expert by profession, recently gave an interview in which he claimed that Syria is on track to become a global gas and oil powerhouse. According to him, there are strong indicators of large oil and gas fields both onshore and in Syria’s territorial waters. He stated that if Syria takes the right steps, it could produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day from its onshore fields within a year.

However, he emphasized that the offshore reserves are much larger. Based on this, al-Sharaa predicted that Syria could rank fourth or fifth globally in production capacity.

Meanwhile, an Arab energy-focused news site reported this week that early estimates suggest a potential discovery of 40 trillion cubic feet of gas off the Syrian coast. Additionally, Syrian experts claim that proven recoverable onshore gas reserves are around 430 billion cubic meters — equivalent to 15 trillion cubic feet.

These estimates are far higher than previous reports on Syria's energy reserves. If the total of 55 trillion cubic feet is accurate, then based on current market prices, the minimum value of these reserves could reach approximately $140 billion.