Jordan to Host Energy Meeting to Discuss Gas Supplies to Lebanon

Date: 05 September 2021 - 22:13

News ID: ۹۴۰۱۲

AMMAN (Dispatches) – Jordan will host a meeting of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon’s energy ministers on Wednesday to discuss transportation of Egyptian gas to Lebanon for electricity generation, said state-owned broadcaster Mamlaka. Talks are ongoing with Egypt and Jordan over a plan to ease Lebanon’s power crisis which involves using Egyptian gas to generate power in Jordan that would be transmitted via Syria. A top level Lebanese delegation went to Damascus on Saturday to pave the way for the plan to ease the power shortages in Lebanon. U.S. sanctions on Damascus are a complicating factor in any effort to help Lebanon via Syria. Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement last month announced it was importing fuel oil from Iran to ease the crisis. On Saturday, Damascus agreed to the Lebanese government’s request to help transport gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan via Syrian territory to Lebanon. Senior Lebanese official Nasri Khoury, who is the secretary general of the Lebanese Syrian Higher Council, announced the news, saying Syria is “ready” to help Lebanon with “transit for Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity via Syrian territory.” His comments came after a delegation led by Lebanon’s Interim Deputy Prime Minister Zeina Akar met with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad and Oil Minister Bassam Tomeh, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported. Mekdad received the Lebanese delegation on arrival at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing. Later in the day, the two sides held a meeting in the capital Damascus. Khoury added that the two sides also “agreed to set up a joint team to track technical details” of the plan, whose aim is reportedly to revive a 2009 agreement that allowed Lebanon to import gas from Egypt through Syria.