Syrian President (L) arrives in Tunis to attend the Arab summit (AFP)

By Salwa al-Astawani, IOL Correspondent

TUNIS, May 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the Arab leaders are expected, during their summit underway Saturday, May 22, in Tunisia, to call for dialogue to find a way out of the current standoff between Washington and Damascus, Syria is now studying European investments to replace the departing U.S. oil companies.

Many European and even Asian oil giants have shown great interest in bidding for oil and gas contracts in Syria in the aftermath of the newly imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Damascus, a Syrian expert told IslamOnline.net Saturday.

"If the United States ordered its inactive and limited oil companies out of Syria, the government is entitled then to give concessions to other companies," former oil minister Matinos Habib told IOL.

Habib added the new gas discoveries in central Syria augur well for the national economy.

"Of course, it will help energize our economy and reflect positively on the tourist, agricultural and industrial sectors," he said.

Syrian Minister of Oil Ibrahim Haddad revealed Thursday, May 20, that a gas field with estimated reserves of 15 billion cubic meters had been discovered in central Syria.

The announcement was made at a joint press conference with the director of the assigned Croatian company INA Nafta, Tomislan Dragicevic.

Syria's gas reserves are estimated at 240 billion cubic meters (8,475 billion cubic feet).

Syria ridiculed May 12 the U.S. sanctions, ruling out any negative impact on its economy.

The sanctions, which was signed by U.S. President George W. Bush into law last December, include a near-blanket ban on U.S. exports to Syria and the power to freeze Syrian assets in the United States.

Except for food and medicine and items intended for certain exempt entities such as the U.S. embassy, foreign diplomatic missions and U.N. agencies in Damascus, all U.S. exports to Syria, estimated at some $100 million per year, are banned under the sanctions.

This is expected to heavily affect U.S. companies, particularly oil firms, working in Syria.

Approved by Congress last November, the sanctions further ban any aircraft or airline owned or controlled by the Syrian government from taking off or landing in the United States.

Dialogue

The Syrian resolve to dispense with the U.S. oil revenues came as the Arab leaders are expected to call for a dialogue between Damascus and Washington in their long-delayed summit in Tunis Saturday.

A senior Arab official said that the four-hour meeting of the 22-member Arab League's Foreign Ministers early Saturday adopted a resolution calling for opening a dialogue between both countries.

The official, who requested anonymity, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the measure supports Syria in the face of the newly imposed U.S. sanctions.

Syria will put forward a strongly-worded statement endorsed by all present Arab leaders, condemning the sanctions.

Putting their bitterness behind them over Tunisia's decision to call off the summit on March 28, Arab kings, princes, Presidents and other dignitaries are to open a two-day summit at around 10:00 GMT at a conference center in the Tunisian capital.

The summit was marred yet again by the expected absence of heads of state of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen and Sudan, who have sent heads of government or other high-level officials in their place.

The deteriorating situations in the occupied Palestinian territories, occupied Iraq, and the U.S. Greater Middle East Initiative are high on the agenda.