Egypt ready to export gas to Lebanon once US grants waiver
Egypt plans to export the agreed-upon 650 million cubic meters of natural gas annually in order to alleviate Lebanon's energy shortage.
Egypt will once again export natural gas to Lebanon via Syria after the signing of an agreement on June 21. Under the agreement, 650 million cubic meters of natural gas will be exported annually via the Arab Gas Pipeline. The actual supply of gas, as per the World Bank conditions, awaits US approval to exclude Egypt from the sanctions targeting the Syrian government.
Under the deal, Egypt will pump gas through a pipeline to supply Lebanon’s Deir Ammar power plant in the northern part of the country, which would lead to the production of 450 megawatts of electricity, adding four hours of electricity supply a day.
The Arab Gas Pipeline is an already existing pipeline that supplied Lebanon with Egyptian gas in the past, but it was halted years ago.
Speaking to Al-Monitor by phone, the official spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, Hamdi Abdel Aziz, explained that the 1,200-km pipeline stretches from Egypt to Jordan, then from Syria to Lebanon, in four stages. The first stage starts from Egypt’s al-Arish to Jordan’s Aqaba. Natural gas supplies from Egypt to Jordan began under this stage in 2003.
