Guardian: Kurds And Tribes Only Rival to Jihadist Power

Report claims:

Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated with al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in al-Hasakah governorate.

Abu Albara, an al-Nusra fighter who spoke to the Guardian by telephone from Deir Ezzor, said: "Now, we can say that most of the oil wells are in the hands of the rebels, only a single oil facility in Hasakah is still under the control of [Kurdish fighters].

The only rivals to the power of the jihadists in the oil region are the Kurds in al-Hasakah, and the Sunni tribes around Deir Ezzor, who have found themselves increasingly marginalised by Islamic extremists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida

Earlier Hawar news reported that some FSA and Islamist groups headed to Deir Ezzor to control the oil and wheat after EU announced lift of embargo.

Salih Muslim before on this issue:

According to Salih Muslim, PYD (the main Kurdish party in Syria) co-chair, 60% of oil is controlled by Kurds. "We protect the oil wells," he said, before pointing out that the Kurdish rewrite their history in the Middle East.

The Kurds have also taken control of the oil wells in the region. Rmaylan, Til Kojer and Jibis are the three areas that are home to major oil fields. "The regions that produce 60% of the oil in Syria are under the control of People's Defence Units (YPG, Kurdish army)", said the PYD co-chair. "Oil production is stopped, but the wells are under the protection of YPG" he added.

The Kurdish region is rich in water, oil and gas. Oil wells and gas are concentrated in the region of Jazeera. But the Kurds still can not take advantage of these resources because of the discriminatory policy of the Baath regime for decades. All the riches of the Kurdish region with agricultural wealth were transferred to cities like Damascus and Aleppo. The region also lacks factories, refineries and universities, which pushed the Kurds to mass immigration in the context of the "Arab belt" implementation policy in 1962 to expel the entire Kurdish population from the region of Jazeera (Cizre in Kurdish) along the Turkish border and replace them with Arabs.

Other oil areas are to be found in the region of Deir ez-Zor, controlled by armed groups. New oil wells in the region have recently been burned, according to the Kurdish leader Salih Muslim. "The regime does not control oil zone, but there is not production," he added.

http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/muslim-60-of-syrian-oil-controlled-by-kurds.htm