Lebanon to reactivate Arab Gas Pipeline to import natural gas from Egypt
Lebanon is slowly beginning to recover from the dramatic energy situation it has been experiencing in recent times. To this end, it intends to carry out a project to reactivate the gas pipeline that will allow it to import natural gas from Egypt. Although this does not seem to be entirely simple, given that the Lebanese section of the pipeline has been out of service since before the Syrian conflict ten years ago. This initiative comes at an important time, with just six months to go before elections in the Lebanese country, which is once again being shaken by controversy over a possible distancing from Hezbollah.
Egypt's gas supply to Lebanon will be via Jordan and Syria. One of the problems to be solved was the sanctions imposed by the United States on the Syrian regime, although this should not affect the pipeline, as Washington has expressed its support for its reactivation. Energy Minister Walid Fayad said the Egyptian Gas Technical Services will begin work in the next few days and the project is expected to be completed in just over two months.
Fayad said the aim is to transport 650 million cubic metres a year of gas to Lebanon that will reach the Deir Ammar power plant in the north of the country. It is expected to produce 450 megawatts, which would translate into three to four hours of electricity supply per day. The approximate cost would be between 7.5 and 8 cents per kilowatt, "which is cheaper than any production cost we have", and would also serve to build new tanks to store petroleum products.
The United States will monitor the initiative to ensure that it does not violate any of the sanctions imposed. Russia will also be part of this project in some way, as in 2019 Lebanon signed an agreement with Vladimir Putin's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage facilities in Tripoli. The Minister of Energy has assured that Rosneft will rehabilitate and build tanks that can hold 150,000 cubic metres of storage, with 250,000 cubic metres on the horizon as the project progresses. However, the work to upgrade the tanks and build three new ones will take around 18 months.
This reopening of the gas pipeline with Egypt is an important step forward for a country that is still trying to overcome one of the worst energy crises in living memory. Added to this is the financial crisis which, according to government figures, has caused losses of up to 69 billion dollars. Moreover, the cost of restructuring the banking system could reach between 23 and 102 billion dollars, for which it will need the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which, for the moment, is not in favour of cooperating with Lebanon, at least until certain changes for the better are seen, such as those that the reactivation of the gas pipeline should bring about.
