Lebanon: signing of an agreement to import Egyptian gas via Syria

From left to right, Director General of the Syrian General Petroleum Corporation Nabih Khrestin, Director General of Petroleum Facilities at the Lebanese Ministry of Energy Aurore Feghali and Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Magdy Galal sign agreements to bring gas from Egypt to Lebanon via Syria, as World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha looks on in Beirut on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. AP - Bilal Hussein

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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.

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With our correspondent in Beirut,

The ball is now in the United States' court.

For this agreement, signed eight months late, to be implemented, Washington must first relax its regime of sanctions provided for by the

.

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 chief Amos Hochstein sounded mostly positive.

On a visit to Beirut in the context of the delimitation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, the American diplomat affirmed that he was ready to " 

 " both for the sanctions and for the financing .

►

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.

►Read again: Lebanon turns to Arab countries to supply itself with electricity

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• Lebanon

• Egypt

• Syria

• Energies