The Syrian government is negotiating deals with firms in London, Singapore and the Middle East to sell crude oil in return for the fuel it needs to survive in the face of an increasingly bloody insurgency, documents...While it is not illegal for firms in the Middle East and Asia to deal with the Syrian authorities, many refuse to do so for fear of being associated with a government whose forces have killed thousands of civilians… One document shows an oil firm with a London billing address - Aurora Finans Limited - hired a vessel from energy company Mar-Link Offshore Services (MLOS)...to ship 200,000 tonnes of diesel to government-controlled Syria. The diesel was to be supplied from Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas, which declined to comment on the deal…At least three cargoes...have been delivered to Syria in recent weeks...brokered by...Petroleum Trading (OPT) on behalf of the Syrian oil ministry…OPT in turn used a private Egyptian broker, Tri-Ocean Energy, to source the products needed and find oil tankers willing to go to Syria…Tri-Ocean Energy denied it had agreements with OPT to trade crude...[Business & Human rights Resource Centre endeavoured to find contact information for Overseas Petroleum Trading, Aurora Finans Limited, Mar-Link Offshore Services (MLOS) but was unable to do so. We encourage these companies to send us their responses to the allegations raised in this article.]