The U.S.-backed People's Protection Units (YPG), a known affiliate of the PKK terrorist group, has agreed on a deal with the Bashar Assad regime to transfer oil, extracted from occupied areas to the regime-dominated areas in Syria's eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

Regime-affiliated companies, operating in the west of Deir el-Zour are laying pipes under the Euphrates river to transport oil to the war-torn country's eastern provinces. The new agreement between the YPG and the Syrian regime will pave way for a rapid transfer of oil, which was previously carried by boats.

According to local sources, the companies operating in the regime-controlled areas laid pipes on al-Shuhail, a town in Syria's oil-producing Deir el-Zour province, in order to transfer the oil they received from the YPG more quickly.

Located near the Iraqi border, Deir el-Zour is one of Syria's largest energy sources. There are 11 large oilfields on the eastern side of the Euphrates, which cuts the province in two. These oilfields make up around one-third of the energy sources in whole Syria.

The underwater pipes will carry the oil bought from the YPG and make it easier for regime-affiliated companies to transport it to regime-held territories on boats.

About 70 percent of Syria's oil resources lie within the territories currently occupied by the U.S.-backed YPG.

In July 2018, the YPG and the regime started negotiations for the operation of oil fields occupied by the terror group located in Deir el-Zour province.

In this context, a regime delegation visited the country's largest oil field, al-Omar, which was occupied by the terrorist organization in 2017, after Conoco gas plant, the largest one in the Deir el-Zour, by the YPG terrorists.

While the regime and YPG share the net income of oil extracted from the fields in Syria's north-eastern province of al-Hasakah, the partners agreed to control nine of fields together, three of which are active. Under the deal, approximately 30,000-35,000 barrels of oil per day have been produced from nearly 350 small oil wells located in Syria's south-western As-Suwayda, in addition to the north-eastern cities of Rimelan and Karacok.

In July 2017, the YPG handed over the control of oil production in the Rimelan region to Assad regime after they signed a revenue-sharing agreement between both sides. According to the agreement, the regime received 65 percent of the oil production revenues, while the YPG obtained 20 percent. The remaining revenue share was given to the Arab forces that are responsible for the protection of the fields. The regime, on the other hand, paid the salaries for the security guards and the other related workers.

One year later, the YPG and Syrian regime also came to agenda when they agreed on a decentralized state system for Syria and handing over key cities, including Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, to the regime.