Lebanon signed this Tuesday, June 21 a contract with Egypt and Syria to import Egyptian gas via Syria, which will allow the country to increase its power supply by four hours a day. Lacking the financial means to purchase the fuel needed to power the power stations, the State has only been supplying one to two hours of electricity per day for more than a year.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
The ball is now in the United States’ court. For this agreement, signed eight months late, to be implemented, Washington must first ease its sanctions regime provided for by the caesar law.
This text signed by Donald Trump at the end of 2019 heavily penalizes entities or individuals dealing financially with the Syrian government.
Another step to take: World Bank financing of the project.
The signals seem positive on these plans. Last week, State Department global energy official Amos Hochstein sounded mostly positive.
On a visit to Beirut as part of the delimitation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, the American diplomat affirmed that he was ready to ” cooperate and help both for the sanctions and for the financing.
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In the best-case scenario, the agreement needs two months to be implemented. The Egyptian gas will allow the Lebanese State to provide four hours of additional electricity. The connection to the Jordanian network via Syria, signed in January, but still pending, will provide as much.
To these eight hours, we must add two hours of electricity currently produced thanks to fuel offered by Iraq.
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