Lebanon: Gas Import Agreement from Egypt Disrupted by Unsecured WB Financing

Lebanon: Gas Import Agreement from Egypt Disrupted by Unsecured WB Financing

An agreement to transport Egyptian gas to Lebanon via Syria is currently disrupted by Lebanon’s failure to meet the conditions for obtaining a World Bank loan and Washington’s reluctance to give an official approval confirming that the deal is not affected by the Caesar Act, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

They said Lebanon continues to suffer from a severe crisis in electricity supply, while concerned officials are only offering temporary solutions to the problem, either by renewing a contract to import fuel from Iraq or searching for other sources from Algeria and Kuwait to secure fuel.

“There is a failure in revealing the main reasons behind the delay to benefit from importing gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, even though Lebanon had signed an agreement with the governments of both countries in this regard,” the sources said.

Last June, Lebanon signed a deal with Egypt to import gas to a power plant in northern Lebanon through Syria.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they fear the deal would remain ink on paper, and that Lebanon’s alternative would remain the reliance on illegal private generators that are treated as a fait accompli.

The political sources then accused some ministers, specifically caretaker