By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 5:00 PM
AMSTERDAM Royal Dutch Shell PLC will not stop producing oil in Syria unless it is directed to do so by the European Union, media in the Netherlands report.
National broadcaster NOS news cites Dick Benschop, head of the companys Dutch arm, as saying Shell thinks halting its operations there would hurt the Syrian people more than its government.
Benschops remarks came after a behind-closed-doors meeting Tuesday with members of Dutch parliament who have called for a boycott to protest the Syrian government crackdown on an uprising the U.N. says has left 2,200 dead since it began in March.
Shell is the second-largest foreign oil producer in Syria after Frances Total SA, producing 7.3 million barrels of oil in 2010.