Two weeks after the visit of a high-ranking Lebanese delegation to Syria to discuss the import of energy from Jordan and Egypt through Syrian territory, Engineer Bassam Tohme, Minister of Energy and Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources in the government of Bashar al-Assad, announced yesterday that the Arab gas pipeline is ready inside the country to transport Egyptian gas to Lebanon.

Maintenance procedures - according to the minister - were inside Syrian territory to prepare the three CT valve stations from the Jordanian border, saying that repair operations "cost billions of Syrian pounds, after being robbed and destroyed by terrorists."

It is expected that the government of the Syrian regime will obtain quantities of gas and electricity, in exchange for the passage of Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity to Lebanon, contrary to what was believed to be a material return, which is reflected in the reality of electrical energy in Syria, which is witnessing a severe crisis and continuous power cuts for homes and industrial establishments.

The Syrian regime is trying to extricate itself from an unprecedented crisis in the electricity sector, as the agreement between the four countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt) represents a lifeline for it in light of the decline and crises that its dilapidated economy suffers from due to the impact of the war and the collapse of the value of the lira.

Energy ministers of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan during a meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman (Reuters)

gap and deficiency

According to the Syrian minister, Syria "will benefit from reactivating the gas pipeline by obtaining quantities of the material to support electric power generation," noting that the Lebanese side requested 600 million cubic meters of gas per year, an average of 1.6 million cubic meters per day.

Tohme did not mention the amount of gas that the government of the Syrian regime will obtain, but those with Syrian economic affairs believe that there will be an improvement in the level of electric power in the regime-controlled areas.

Abdul Hakim al-Masry, Minister of Economy in the Syrian Interim Government (the opposition), believes that the Assad regime has a huge gap and a huge shortage of electric power and gas, as it covers 25% of what it needs of electricity, and of gas from 18 to 20%.

And he said - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that the project will be reflected by increasing several hours of electricity, especially in the capital Damascus, and alleviating the continuous outages and reducing the hours of electrical rationing, in addition to the issue of domestic gas provided to civilians and reducing the waiting time for people to obtain gas cylinders.

According to Al-Masry, the regime will gain from the process of breaking the economic blockade through the US “Caesar” law for the protection of civilians in Syria, which prohibits dealing with the Assad regime in the matter of energy, and thus improve the economic situation in the regime’s areas of control.

The Syrian regime seeks to improve the state of electric power, which is witnessing continuous interruptions in its (European) control areas.

Doubts and Obstacles

Despite the Syrian regime’s quick announcement of the readiness of the gas pipeline to Lebanon inside Syria, the issue of electrical energy crossing from Jordan to Lebanon will not take place before the second quarter of next year, due to maintenance work by the Syrian side of the electrical network within its borders, according to a Jordanian source’s statement to the website. Jordanian news.

The cost of re-maintenance of power lines is not only material, as the Syrian economic researcher Younes al-Karim indicates, but is related to the availability of raw materials at the Ministry of Electricity for the process of this maintenance, and as a result of Caesar’s Law and the penalties for banks and the Corona pandemic, the availability of these materials is difficult and takes a long time.

Al-Karim questioned the possibility of the success of the project to transfer energy to Lebanon through Syria, due to the presence of technical and economic obstacles, represented by huge financial costs for Beirut, especially changing the power plants from fuel to gas, which takes a lot of time.

Electricity reality

Talking about power outages - in areas under the control of the Syrian regime - has become a preoccupation for the Syrians after a significant increase in the number of hours of electricity rationing, at a time when the issue of alternative energy has increased as a solution to the electricity crisis in the country.

Despite the repeated promises - made by the regime's government through the Minister of Electricity Ghassan Al-Zamil of an upcoming improvement in the electric current - the reality of the situation completely contradicts the minister's words, after the number of hours of power cuts in several governorates increased to more than 22 hours compared to two hours of arrival, divided into one hour in the morning and another In the evening.

With the inability of the Syrian regime to solve the problem of electricity cuts - which it attributes to the failures of the generation plants and the lack of gas needed to operate them - the residents resorted to costly alternative solutions that are not commensurate with their monthly income by subscribing to paid electricity.