AMMAN — A French official said on
Tuesday that he will visit Jordan to discuss obstacles to exporting Egyptian
gas to Lebanon via Jordan and Syria for the purpose of generating electricity,
Khaberni reported.
اضافة اعلان
Pierre Duquesne, the French envoy in charge
of coordinating international support to Lebanon, said Egypt was still seeking
assurances that it would be exempt from US sanctions imposed on Syria to begin
exporting gas to Lebanon, under a plan first announced in 2021 to help ease Lebanon’s
electricity crisis.
In addition to using Egyptian gas for power
generation, the plan includes exporting electricity from Jordan to Lebanon via
Syria, which could add up to 700 megawatts to Lebanon's grid.
Waiting on reformsThe plan, Duquesne said, has not yet been
submitted to the World Bank's board of directors, which will evaluate reforms
in the electricity sector in Lebanon as a precondition for the disbursal of a
$300 million loan to finance
gas exports to Lebanon over a period of 18 months.
The envoy told reporters in Cairo that he would be heading to Jordan and Lebanon this week, and then to US later this month, "to try to help as much as possible to get past political rhetoric"
Required reforms to Lebanon's electricity
sector under the plan include calculating losses from power grid leaks and
theft and restructuring the national regulatory authority.
Duquesne said these reforms could be
implemented within two years, but would likely face political resistance.
Resolving concerns, moving to implementationLebanon's electricity supply is faltering,
and there has been weak progress on the plan since it was signed last June.
The envoy told reporters in Cairo that he would
be heading to Jordan and Lebanon this week, and then to US later this month,
"to try to help as much as possible to get past political rhetoric" and
start practical implementation of the plan.
Duquesne said that technical obstacles to
exporting Egyptian gas have been resolved and there are “no obstacles regarding
gas pricing or quantity”, but concerns about exposure to US sanctions on the
government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have not been resolved.
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