Sources confirmed that Shell Syria, a subsidiary of "Royal Dutch Shell" the Dutch oil production company asked the staff in Syria to continue their work and their commitment to their jobs in the company until further notice while maintaining their monthly wages without any discounts or deductions.

The Sources said to SyrianDays that the management of the company informed its employees that the company will not close its offices located Dummar Project in Damascus at all, despite a the full stop of oil exploration and extraction in Syria, the sources added that the offices of Damascus can now contribute to the work and consultation that may come from Regional Centre for Shell in Dubai until things return to normal and Shell Syria re-start its oil related operations in the country.

Sources pointed out that the actions of "Shell Syria" could push other foreign oil companies operating in Syria to do the same in terms of dealing with staff and with the mechanism of management in this period after the European sanctions imposed on Syria for the past months due to the incidents taking place, and accusing the Syrian authorities of exerciseing repression against the protesters.

The company "Royal Shell Dech", decided earlier this January to stop all its activities in Syria and to implement the new European sanctions, published by the European Union Journal today, this made the Dutch company one of the first responders.

Shell’s descusion was after the EU declared earlier today their expansion of the sanctions to include the establishment of the Syrian Oil Marketing (Sterol) and the General Organization of the oil in Syria as part of the 11 entities and 12 Syrian persons included on the "black list" of the Union, the company’s spokesperson explained then that "the personal safety for all our employees is our top priority, and we hope the situation improves quickly for all Syrians."

The Dutch company has rejected demands to halt its activities in Syria, saying it would do so only if the European Union imposed a ban on oil products in Syria.