Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Al-Kaabi told reporters, in a press conference today, Tuesday, that Qatar is working to support Lebanon with long-term energy supplies using liquefied natural gas.
Al-Kaabi added that his country is aware and happy with Egypt's short-term solution, which would help the country obtain natural gas using a network of pipelines in neighboring Jordan and Syria, Reuters reported.
Minister Al-Kaabi also said, at a conference of gas exporters in the capital, Doha, that the increasing gas prices in Europe began before the crisis in Ukraine, and is due to the lack of investment in this sector.
He added that gas is definitely needed in the future, noting that there is a need for fossil fuels to be part of the equation in the transition towards renewable energy sources.
For his part, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said that work is currently underway with officials in Lebanon to return to exporting natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline once again, according to what was reported by the Middle East Agency.
The Egyptian minister pointed out - in statements today, Tuesday in Doha, after the sixth summit of the heads of member states of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum - that there are multiple levels of challenges, including technical ones, in some sites of the pipeline, given that it has not been used for a long time, and work is being done to solve it now and will be completed. over the next few weeks.
On the political and contractual aspects of gas supply to Lebanon, he stressed that the past period witnessed several meetings and agreements on contract terms between all participating parties, and balanced terms were agreed upon for all parties.
He explained that the World Bank will finance the supply operations to ensure continuity, and that there is a great political consensus to expedite implementation and face challenges, to support Lebanon and supply gas to it during the next few weeks.