Agreement Signed to bring Egyptian Gas to Lebanon via Syria and Jordan

Lebanon, Syria and Egypt have signed today in Beirut an agreement for leasing and transporting natural gas to Lebanon from Egypt via Syria and Jordan.

The Minister of Energy in the Lebanese caretaker government, Walid Fayyad, said in a press conference: The signing of the agreement is the culmination of the tireless work carried out by the three countries over the course of seven months, which made it a model for joint Arab cooperation for the benefit of all Arab countries and peoples, explaining that the implementation of the agreement will secure Lebanon electric feeding up to 4 extra hours which is much needed.

Fayyad thanked Syria and its leadership for providing all facilities and overcoming obstacles at the technical or the legal levels by facilitating the negotiation process and overcoming obstacles and at the commercial level in terms of securing the common interest of the two brotherly countries and peoples. He also thanked Egypt for providing Lebanon with gas to solve part of its electricity problem.

Fayyad said: “The sisterly Syria together with Jordan remain the natural extension of constructive Arab relations for the sake of the interest of our countries and peoples, and it is important for us to mention that Lebanon, through the three presidencies of the Republic, the Parliament and the government, gave this project all the support and facilities to be able to reach this moment and worked in permanent and continuous coordination with the World Bank, which provided its expertise and technical support, and with the support of its work team, in permanent meetings with the Ministry of Energy to complete the agreement and the terms of its financing.”

In turn, the Director General of the Syrian General Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Eng. Nabih Khristine said: “Syria, under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, was and still is a basic support for any real Arab initiative. From the beginning, we have accorded this initiative with all the attention of the government and the ministry of oil to achieve this project,” indicating that despite the pressures and the great difficulties facing Syria, the General Petroleum Corporation and the Syrian Gas Company made great efforts to prepare the line, which was subjected to several attacks in more than one place, but the Syrian authorities managed to prepare it in a very short time.

Khristine added: We in Syria are ready to implement the project and pass Egyptian gas through the Syrian gas network lines to Lebanon without any delay, and we affirm that this is a service and an initiative by us to support the brotherly Lebanese people to secure part of their electricity needs.

For his part, Majdy Jalal, head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Company, said that his country had signed the agreement to support the Lebanese state and provide it with gas as soon as possible, indicating that the gas pipeline through Jordan and Syria is ready.

Last September, Syria agreed to the Lebanese side’s request for assistance in passing Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity through Syrian territory to Lebanon, during a session of Syrian-Lebanese talks held in Damascus, stressing that it supports any joint action that achieves the interests of the peoples and will work through cooperation with Jordan and Egypt to help the Lebanese people in overcoming the energy crisis and transferring Egyptian gas to it.

NR