Lebanon, Egypt, Syria sign deal to send Egyptian gas to Lebanon

Beirut, Jun 21 (EFE).- Lebanon, Egypt and Syria on Tuesday signed an agreement to flow Egyptian gas to the crisis-hit Lebanon pending the necessary financing from the World Bank.

“This deal will provide up to an additional four hours of electricity to Lebanon, which desperately needs it,” Lebanon’s energy minister Walid Fayad said during the signing ceremony.

“By signing this pact, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria will have completed all the steps to move forward in guaranteeing electricity for the Lebanese people,” he added.

The pact was signed in Beirut by the General Director of Oil Installations of Lebanon, Aurore Feghali; the president of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, Magdy Galal, and the general director of Petroleum of Syria Nabi Khersti.

The gas will be sent through the so-called Arab Gas Pipeline, which passes through Syrian territory and is exempted from the sanctions imposed by the United States on Damascus.

In January, Beirut signed an agreement with Jordan and Syria to provide Beirut with 400 megawatts of Jordanian electricity, passing through the Syrian lines, which had to add two additional hours of public electricity per day.

The deal, can not be implemented until World Bank funding is approved. In exchange, the international institution demands a series of structural reforms in the sector. EFE

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