- Egypt and Lebanon to partner for gas supply.
According to a report by the Lebanese Al-Joumhouria, the Lebanese energy minister, Walid Fayad, announced that the officials of Egypt and Syria will sign a final agreement for gas imports from Egypt today. In his statement, the Lebanese government accomplished what it had to do to receive financing from the World Bank and US approval on the agreement.
Although there has been no confirmation from Egypt yet, Reuters reported that a US official said last week that the final approval on the agreement would allow Washington to evaluate whether the deal followed US sanctions on Syria, after which gas could “finally flow.”
In September 2021, Egypt agreed to supply Lebanon with natural gas to its power plants through Jordan and Syria in a revival of the Arab Gas Pipeline to help Lebanon in its longtime crippling electricity problem. The Arab Gas Pipeline has been out of service in Lebanon even before Syria’s 10-year conflict would begin. Nevertheless, Syrian experts have finished work in the war-torn country.
The Syrian government is under US and Western sanctions for its role in the war, which has left nearly half a million killed and disappeared and nearly half of the population displaced.
Despite the sanctions, the US has supported the resumption of natural gas flow from Egypt to Lebanon via Syria. According to Fayad, the agreement stipulates that 650 million cubic meters (22.95 billion cubic feet) of gas will be brought to Lebanon through the pipeline annually to the Deir Ammar power station in the north, leading to the production of 450 megawatts of electricity and adding three to four hours of electricity supplies a day.