A majority of members of the Syrian parliament have signed a draft law which would ban US oil companies from operating in the country, in retaliation for Washington's sanctions on Damascus, an MP told AFP Sunday.
"More than 130 deputies have signed this bill urging the government to take measures to end the activities of American companies in Syria," Mohammad Habash said.
He said the measure would be debated in the 250-member parliament, which is dominated by the ruling Baath Party and its allies, on June 27.
Habash called the move a "moral stance in the face of the constant accusations of the United States" against Syria.
US President George W. Bush on May 11 slapped sanctions on Syria, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism, seeking to produce arms of mass destruction and trying to destabilise neighbouring Iraq.
The measures ban the import of US products, other than food and medicines, and freeze the assets of the Commercial Bank of Syria, the main state bank, in the United States.
Syrian Oil Minister Ibrahim Haddad said last week US firms involved in servicing the country's oil industry had been largely affected by the sanctions, but those working in prospection and development of oil and gas deposits were not affected.
US oil companies which have signed oil or gas contracts with Syria include Conoco, Occidental, Veritas, Devon Energy and Gulf Sands Petroleum.
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