Canadian energy giant Suncor Energy Inc. says it plans to suspend operations in Syria as a result of sanctions enacted against the embattled country earlier this month.
"The company is working through a plan to safely withdraw its expatriates while retaining its Syrian employees," Suncor said in a statement issued Sunday.
The announcement comes about a week after the European Union imposed additional sanctions against the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Suncor Energy had said in November that the company would stay in Syria until the situation in the country reached a point where it was no longer safe to operate.
"We've always been clear that we would comply with all relevant sanctions imposed on the country," said Suncor CEO Rick George in a prepared statement.
Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Suncor had no plans to leave Syria. He argued that the Calgary-based company provided a much-needed service to the country.
"If they ceased activities there, you'd have literally thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity, and that would be bad for the civilian population," he told a House of Commons committee on December 2.
In Syria, Suncor was known by the name Petro-Canada and was working in co-operation with General Petroleum Corp.
Suncor's 2012 production guidance included output from Syria. The company said it won't change the guidance this year due to rising output from Libya, which wasn't included on the existing document.
Suncor's imminent withdrawal is the international community's most recent show of disapproval against Assad's bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.
More than 4,000 people have been killed during the nine-month-old uprising, according to figures released by the United Nations.
