Syria's proved oil reserves, on a liquids-aggregate definition that includes crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas liquids and oil sands, are published as 2,500,000 thousand barrels, and the figure has been reprinted unchanged for at least five years [CORRECTED 26 AUGUST 2026 AT THE PART THREE GATE 6 REMEDIATION, AND THE STRUCK WORDING IS QUOTED SO IT CANNOT RETURN: this field read 'proved crude oil reserves', which contradicts this row's own Measure_and_scope: 'THE COLUMN IS NOT CRUDE OIL ALONE'. Chapter 9 v7 lines 15 and 27 have it right and the register was the party that was wrong. Origin: H7.] || 19 October 2026 (D-315 remediation, CONSOLIDATED.md R-D-11): since at least 1 January 1995 on SRC-788; Chapter 9 l.13 and l.25.
Claim ID
OILRES-001
Exact or summary claim
Syria's proved oil reserves, on a liquids-aggregate definition that includes crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas liquids and oil sands, are published as 2,500,000 thousand barrels, and the figure has been reprinted unchanged for at least five years [CORRECTED 26 AUGUST 2026 AT THE PART THREE GATE 6 REMEDIATION, AND THE STRUCK WORDING IS QUOTED SO IT CANNOT RETURN: this field read 'proved crude oil reserves', which contradicts this row's own Measure_and_scope: 'THE COLUMN IS NOT CRUDE OIL ALONE'. Chapter 9 v7 lines 15 and 27 have it right and the register was the party that was wrong. Origin: H7.] || 19 October 2026 (D-315 remediation, CONSOLIDATED.md R-D-11): since at least 1 January 1995 on SRC-788; Chapter 9 l.13 and l.25.
Destination
Chapter 9
Status
QUALIFIED
Source
Oil and Gas Journal, 'Worldwide look at reserves and production', November-December 2025, folios 18 and 19, read at the 300 dpi render research/CH9_OILGAS_OGJ_wwrp_2025-11-12_pages/p001.png; the issue of 6 December 2021, columns 1 January 2022 and 2021, held under the misleading filename research/CH9_OILGAS_OGJ_wwrp_2023.pdf (its footer reads 'Oil & Gas Journal | Dec. 6, 2021'); the journal's archive editions from the table for 1 January 1996 and 1995 to that for 1 January 2020 and 2019 (SRC-788, retrieved 16 October 2026); US Energy Information Administration Syria country analysis brief of 24 June 2015 at research/CH9_OILGAS_EIA_syria_2015_CAB.txt line 112
Source type
Trade publication survey, and a national statistical agency citing it
Published
2025-11-12
Accessed
2026-08-23
Measure and scope
Estimated proved reserves of oil, in thousand barrels, Syrian Arab Republic, as at 1 January of the stated year. THE COLUMN IS NOT CRUDE OIL ALONE: the table's footnote 1 reads 'Includes crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas liquids, and oil sands', so it is a liquids aggregate
Known conflict
THE FIGURE IS A CARRY-FORWARD AND NOT AN ANNUAL ESTIMATE. The same 2,500,000 is printed at 1 January 2021, 2022, 2025 and 2026. The journal's own method note says it 'changes its estimate for a country only when it receives evidence that a change is in order' and that 'a year-to-year change or lack thereof may not necessarily reflect a change that applies to the calendar year alone'. It states no source for the Syria row. THE EIA IS NOT AN INDEPENDENT CORROBORATION: its 2015 brief cites this same journal for the same 2.5 billion barrels, so the two are one source and not two [LOCATOR CORRECTED 24 AUGUST 2026, CH9-B11, AND THE ROW CARRIED THE SAME ERROR AS THE PROSE. This row attributed the two quotations to 'the journal's own method note', and the chapter said they were in a method note beside the table. NEITHER IS TRUE. The whole text layer of the table PDF carries exactly two notes, the Neutral Zone note and the liquids footnote, and searching it for 'changes its estimate' and 'lack thereof' returns zero. BOTH SENTENCES ARE IN THE ACCOMPANYING SURVEY ARTICLE of 8 December 2025 by Conglin Xu and Laura Bell-Hammer, at character offsets 2332 and 2489 of research/CH9_OILGAS_OGJ_article_2025survey.html. THE CORRECTION MATTERS BECAUSE THE CONTRAST DEPENDS ON IT: the chapter set what the table's note says against what the article omits, and they are one document.] [SPAN EXTENDED AND CLOSED 24 AUGUST 2026, SRC-393. This row said the figure had been reprinted unchanged for at least five years and named four as-at dates. The two intervening editions have since been retrieved and read at the render, and THE RUN IS NOW CONTINUOUS: 2,500,000 thousand barrels and 8,500 bcf at 1 January 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, six consecutive as-at dates across four editions, with NO UNREAD DATE IN THE RUN. The claim may now be stated as six consecutive annual statements rather than as a span with gaps.] || 28 September 2026 (D-241 item 2): The Ministry of Energy's home page (SRC-696, undated, no source or method) states crude oil reserves of 2.4 billion barrels; see OILRES-002. A different measure (crude, against this row's liquids aggregate); neither is audited. || READING OF 18 OCTOBER 2026 (D-307; audits/reports/series_leads_verification_2026-10-18/VERIFY.md part C), OO-1 and OO-14: THE CARRY-FORWARD IS LONGER THAN THIS ROW SAYS. The journal's archive editions retrieved on 16 October 2026 and re-read on 18 October 2026 (SRC-788) give Syria 2,500,000 at every 1 January from 1995 to 2020; with the six dates above the run is 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2026 with no unread as-at date (1 January 2020 and 2021 are carried by the December 2019 and December 2021 editions; the December 2020 document the archive serves is the field-by-field production file, not the reserves table). THE DEFINITION OF THE COLUMN CHANGED UNDER THE UNCHANGED FIGURE: [STRUCK 18 OCTOBER 2026 (RETEST_07_09 RT09-1, the same clause in this row) AND QUOTED: 'no edition read before December 2016 prints a definitional footnote on the oil column'. THE TABLES FOR 1 JANUARY 1996 AND 1995 TO 1 JANUARY 2002 AND 2001 PRINT AN EDITOR'S NOTE DEFINING THE RESERVE CATEGORY (SRC-788).] no edition read before December 2016 states which liquids the oil column includes; December 2016 and 2017 read 'Includes crude oil, lease condensate and oil sands'; December 2018 reads 'Oil Includes crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas liquids and oil sands', and from December 2019 the note is the one this row quotes. So the liquids-aggregate definition in Measure_and_scope is stated from December 2018; December 2016 and 2017 state a definition without natural gas liquids, and no earlier edition read states which liquids the column includes. [AMENDED 18 OCTOBER 2026, REVIEW_09 R09-6, AND QUOTED: 'holds from December 2018 only'.] These readings post-date the closing date of 28 September 2026 and Chapter 9 l.23 prints them dated, 'which I read on 16 October 2026, after this book's closing date'. ALSO CORRECTED: the Source field called the issue of 6 December 2021 'the 2023 edition' after its filename. || 18 October 2026 (closing pass 2, D-315; unit CL2-D): 'These readings post-date the closing date of 28 September 2026 and Chapter 9 l.23 prints them dated, \'which I read on 16 October 2026, after this book\'s closing date\'' is superseded: at the closing date of 18 October 2026 the reading is ordinary and l.23 keeps only its date. MIN-2181's observation recorded: the OGJ table for 1 January 1999 and 1998 (_17299703) opens its EDITOR'S NOTE 'Reserve data come from published government reports and from responses to an OGJ survey requesting estimates of "proved reserves".'; Chapter 9 l.17's 'The table states no source for the Syrian row' is scoped to the current table and stands.
Specialist
Petroleum reserves estimation
Downstream
Chapters 9 and 10
Action
Print it as a figure carried unchanged since at least 2021 by a trade survey that revises only on evidence received, with its liquids-aggregate definition attached. DO NOT print it as a current independent estimate, and do not present the EIA as a second publication confirming it. A reserves audit is what would settle it and none has been published AND ATTRIBUTE THE METHOD QUOTATIONS TO THE SURVEY ARTICLE OF 8 DECEMBER 2025, not to a note beside the table. [BAR LIFTED 24 AUGUST 2026, SRC-393, AND THE STRUCK WORDING IS QUOTED SO A PARTIAL READING CANNOT REINTRODUCE IT: this Action read 'Do not print a count of editions: four as-at dates in two held editions is what the evidence reaches', AND THAT IS NOW FALSE. The two intervening editions were retrieved and read at the render on the same day. FOUR EDITIONS ARE HELD and the run is continuous at six consecutive as-at dates, 1 January 2021 through 2026, with no unread year. A count of editions may be printed provided every edition counted is held and read.] The bar that survives is narrower: DO NOT PRINT A COUNT THAT INCLUDES AN EDITION NOT ON DISK. || READING OF 18 OCTOBER 2026 (D-307; audits/reports/series_leads_verification_2026-10-18/VERIFY.md part C): the run from 1 January 1995 may be printed, dated as read on 16 October 2026 after the closing date, with the change of definition stated, and with no count of editions (the DO NOT PRINT A COUNT bar stands). Until the D-305 closing pass, 'since at least 2021' stays the chapter's closing-date statement at l.13, l.25 and l.169. || 18 October 2026 (closing pass 2, D-315; unit CL2-D) (HELD R09-10; DRAFTING_BRIEF item 5): the closing pass has run. 'Until the D-305 closing pass, \'since at least 2021\' stays the chapter\'s closing-date statement at l.13, l.25 and l.169' is discharged: Chapter 9 v42 l.13 and l.25 read 'since at least 1995' (l.23's run from 1 January 1995, its label lifted); l.169's 'at least five years' is unchanged by the brief's ruling. The DO NOT PRINT A COUNT bar on editions stands.