Hasakah, Aug. 4 (SANA)Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) CEO Youssef Qablawi and HKN Energy CEO Mark Rollins held a joint press conference at the Rmelan oil fields in Hasakah province on Tuesday to discuss production development plans using modern technologies and the targeted timeline to gradually increase field output to approximately 200,000 barrels per day.

The press conference also reviewed rehabilitation projects thatHKN Energywill implement to enhance production efficiency, according to the SPC statement on Telegram.

Both sides stressed the importance of benefiting from national expertise and providing opportunities for local residents to participate in operations and development work, enhancing local development and supporting the oil and gas sector.

Strategic partnership discussions

Prior to the press conference, SPC and HKN Energy delegations held a meeting at theRmelan fields‘ directorate inHasakahas part of a field tour of the province’s oil fields.

The meeting discussed the strategic partnership between SPC and HKN Energy, reviewed procedures for handing over project sites and mechanisms of work, according to SPC.

In mid-July, Qablawi visited the Rmelan field to review operations following HKN Energy’s takeover of its operations. The Rmelan field, discovered in 1962, is the largest and oldest oil field in Syria, located in the far northeastern corner of the country near the borders withTürkiyeandIraq. It was historically the country’s most productive field, with pre-war production estimated at 300,000 barrels per day.

The partnership with HKN Energy, first announced in May 2026, was described bySyrian Petroleum Companyas one of the most significant achievements in Syria’s oil sector following the fall of the deposed regime and represents the first direct US investment in Syrian oil production since therevolutionbegan.

HKN Energy is a Texas-based company led by CEO Mark Rollins and founded by the late Ross Perot Jr., with the company previously active in theKurdistan Regionof Iraq.