Qiblawi: The salaries of the Syrian Petroleum Company are the highest in the country
Eng. Yousef Qiblawi, CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), revealed the adoption of a new salary scale for the company's employees, which puts them at the top of the list of the highest earners in Syria currently.
According to Eng. Kablawi in a press interview last night, the new structure is not limited to high basic salaries denominated in US dollars, but extends to include a wide package of benefits and compensation, in light of an ambitious strategy to raise production and stabilize national competencies.
Qiblawi stressed that the new salaries at the Syrian Petroleum Company are the best in Syria ever, revealing figures that reflect a huge gap between the salaries of the oil company and the rest of the sectors (public and private) in the country.
According to Qiblawi's statements during the interview, he classified salaries within the institution into three job ranks, which are as follows:
First Level (Senior Management): Salary ranges from USD 4,000 to USD 10,000 maximum.
Managers in different departments: Salaries range from 2000 to 5000 USD.
Petroleum Engineer (New Graduate): His salary starts from 1000 USD.
He stressed that this improvement in the salary chain will be noticed by all employees of the company, as the management aims to improve living conditions and address the previous differences, as the implementation of the ladder has actually begun, starting from managers to the rest of the employees during the current month.
Adoption of a new salary scale
Qiblawi pointed out that work is underway to improve the situation of employees, revealing that the new salary scale has already begun to be applied to 18 managers, and that the rest of the cadres will be gradually included soon.
On March 15, Qiblawi announced the adoption of a new salary scale for the company's employees.
In a comment on one of the social media pages, after inquiring about the difference in salaries between new employees and old employees, especially petroleum engineers, Qiblawi replied as follows: "I have agreed to the new salary scale, and within the next week, it will be implemented, starting with the managers and then the rest of the employees during the current month."
"All employees of the Syrian Petroleum Company will notice the change through the improvement of the monthly salary," he added, expressing his hope that "this will be a good start and that everyone will be given their due."
He pointed out that the decision comes within the framework of the company's management's efforts to improve the living conditions of workers and address the differences in salaries between different categories of employees, especially veteran engineers whose salaries have decreased compared to the current salaries of new employees.
In previous statements, the company's deputy CEO had indicated a trend to raise the salaries of oilfield employees, which is in line with the company's comprehensive development plans.
A comprehensive strategy for the sector's restructuring
The step of raising salaries, improving infrastructure, and raising production is part of a broader strategy to restructure the oil sector, especially after the comprehensive reform of wages and salaries that the government pledged in the 2026 budget. This strategy relies on strengthening local competencies: by providing competitive wages that are comparable to or close to international wages to stabilize Syrian engineers and experts, and comprehensive development plans. This includes a trend to raise the salaries of oil field employees in particular, which the Deputy Executive Director has confirmed in previous statements.
Will government sectors follow the example of the oil company?
Some economic analysts believe that the Syrian Petroleum Company's adoption of salaries starting from $1,000 to $10,000 represents a shift outside the economic and administrative context of Syrian government institutions, and places its employees in an economic class completely separate from the rest of the public sector employees.
Experts and analysts justified these decisions by saying that this step is the government's intention to preserve "local competencies" in the most important sovereign sector and prevent their migration, especially since the current CEO has international experience and is aware of the importance of competitive wages.
Youssef Qiblawi's remarks represent an announcement of the birth of a "wage structure" that is the first of its kind in the country, which opens the door to questions about the repercussions of this huge difference in salaries between employees in other Syrian government institutions and ministries and whether these institutions and sectors will follow the example of the oil sector in terms of wages and salaries.