(MENAFN) Saudi Arabia confirmed Monday that 650,000 barrels of crude oil have reached Syria, marking the inaugural installment of an energy assistance package designed to stabilize the war-torn nation's petroleum infrastructure.

The cargo docked at Banias port represents the opening delivery of a 1.65-million-barrel crude oil grant, Saudi media disclosed.

Officials inked the grant accord on September 11 between the Saudi Fund for Development and Syrian energy officials, with the Saudi Ministry of Energy providing administrative supervision.

The assistance program targets multiple objectives: enhancing operational capacity at Syrian refineries, advancing the country's economic reconstruction, confronting immediate fiscal pressures, and revitalizing critical economic sectors across Syria, according to the report.

The petroleum grant signals Riyadh's expanding engagement with Damascus as regional powers recalibrate diplomatic and economic relationships following years of conflict. The remaining tranches of the crude oil shipment are expected to arrive in subsequent deliveries, though specific timelines were not disclosed.

Syria's energy sector has suffered catastrophic damage throughout more than a decade of civil war, leaving refineries operating at drastically reduced capacity and creating persistent fuel shortages that have crippled industrial production and daily life for millions of Syrians.

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