The termination of Youssef Qiblawi’s appointment as CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, and the appointment of others, comes days after he submitted his resignation request under the weight of “work pressure,” and increasing parliamentary and popular demands to hold him accountable. Sources close to the Syrian government confirm that the reason for Al-Qabalawi's change is the crisis of substandard gasoline. This is a crisis that deepened the state of tension towards the Syrian Petroleum Corporation, and Al-Qabalawi directly, after he turned into a controversial and confrontational figure in front of public opinion.
In this context, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued, on Sunday, Presidential Decree No. 190, appointing Engineer Maher Khalil Al-Hassan as CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, ending the duties of the former president, Youssef Qiblawi, following a wide wave of public controversy and operational and administrative crises that struck the fuel sector in the country.
Engineer Qiblawi’s career is considered one of the most controversial periods in the Syrian energy sector. He faced widespread criticism that focused on his confrontational statements and controversial moments, most notably his statements about wages in the company, and the salaries of its employees ranged between 4,000 and 10,000 US dollars per month, which sparked widespread dissatisfaction in light of the stifling economic crisis that the country is experiencing.
As for the major turning point, it was his offensive statement in which he described critics of oil contracts on social media platforms by saying: “They follow (Facebook) like a herd.” What forced him to apologize after a wave of public anger and demands for his dismissal.
The crisis of “adulterated gasoline” that did not conform to specifications, and the accompanying leaks about the dismissal of a technical engineer who refused to sign the violating shipment, came as a final stop in Qiblawi’s position, sparking sharp parliamentary and popular demands to hold him accountable. This prompted him to submit his resignation in conjunction with the oversight and inspection investigations, and the scene ended with the issuance of the presidential decree dismissing him.
Investigations conducted by the Syrian Ministry of Energy, in cooperation with the Central Authority for Control and Inspection, revealed that a shipment of fuel in violation of standards had been emptied inside the warehouses of the Syrian Petroleum Company as a result of a serious “operational error,” which led to hundreds of citizens’ vehicles being damaged and sparking widespread public anger, in addition to previous accusations of corruption and abuse of office.
The Ministry of Energy announced that legal measures would be taken against those responsible for the error and negligence, each according to their responsibility. It also commissioned the Syrian Petroleum Company to develop a mechanism to compensate affected citizens, and to work on reviewing the operational and control procedures related to receiving, storing and returning petroleum derivatives, and verifying their conformity with specifications before putting them on the market.
Who is the new CEO?
Engineer Maher Khalil Al-Hassan (born in Hama in 1986) is considered one of the young technocratic talents close to the leadership of the current transitional phase. He obtained a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Homs in 2010, and his professional career includes prominent stations in oil experience, as he began his field career at Hayyan Oil Company, and worked as a supervisor for the management of the oil fields east of Homs.
Al-Hassan then assumed the portfolio of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection in the caretaker government headed by Mohamed Al-Bashir after the fall of the previous regime (between December 2024 and March 2025). He later served as Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry for Internal Trade Affairs, and his name became prominent in the management of food security, grains, mills, and market oversight.
But the appointment of Al-Hassan raises many questions, in terms of his transfer from the file of food security, grains, and bakeries, to the most complex and vital energy sector in the Syrian economy, and his ability to manage the file, and withstand great pressures, and the package of urgent files that await him, the most important of which is restoring confidence, addressing the repercussions of illegal fuels, developing a strict control system, and the importance of stabilizing supplies, by securing the continuous flow of fuel and domestic gas to citizens, in addition to combating corruption, structuring contracts, and demands to enhance absolute transparency in oil investments and rehabilitating facilities. Damaged biological resources are under the supervision of regulatory agencies.
While experts warn of the process of rotating positions within the institutions of the executive authority, and the continuation of the policy of appointments from those close to the current authority, others confirm that the goal of appointing Maher Al-Hassan is to raise the level of efficiency within the Syrian Petroleum Company, and to create a flexible engineering policy to restore discipline to the institution and link it more effectively with the relevant bodies and ministries, including economy and energy.
The head of the Energy Committee in the Syrian People's Assembly, Iqbal Mansour, believes that the appointment of Maher Al-Hassan as a specialist with administrative and institutional experience establishes flexibility and sovereignty in decision-making, and reflects the executive authority's follow-up to the demands of the local street.
It is expected that Al-Hassan's presence will increase coordination between government institutions, the Ministry of Energy and the parliamentary authority, to enhance transparency in the work of the ministries.
