The oil firm based in Athens, Greece allowed shipments to continue during the winter for humanitarian reasons, but it has now blacklisted the Syrian company that delivered LPG imports.

“LPG deliveries to Syria have stopped because of sanctions,” said a director at Naftomar to Reuters.

Many critics had stressed that by delivering oil shipments to Syria, worth at least $55 million each month during the winter, Naftomar might have been helping to prolong Assad’s rule.

Naftomar had then defendeded its position by stating that its fuel may be preventing an even worse humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Most major oil firms have already but ties with Syria for fear of breaking the law or being associated to a bloody crackdown in which ober 10,000 have died, according to UN.

But imports of LPG, which hinged on Naftomar, are seen as peaceful because they play a very important role in regions with limited infrastructure for piping gas.

The EU has a section allowing firms to continue deliveries for humanitarian reasons, but exemptions can only be granted by national government authorities, Reuters reported.

Naftomar does not expect to be granted an exemption because it does not directly distribute the LPG it delivers to the Syrian population. The distribution procedure is handled by the state firm now on the EU blacklist.

Naftomar, a known firm in Greece, whose leading figure is a Syrian national, with links to Greece’s shipping elite and ties to Lebanon was founded by Talal Zein in Beirut . Since its establishment in Beirut, Lebanon in 1972 as a trading house, concentrating on the distribution of petroleum products in the Mediterranean region, Naftomar has since developed to become a major player in the LPG field with a fleet of more than 20 vessels.