Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water, Raymond Ghajar voiced his gratitude to Jordan, Egypt and Syria for the initiative they took to reanimate the quadripartite gas agreement. He stressed that the initiative could not have taken place without the cooperation of the four countries, and in close coordination with the World Bank during this difficult time that Lebanon is experiencing, to secure a financial cover to sign the agreement.
This cooperation, he added, will lead to the reanimation of another agreement; purchasing electrical energy from Jordan, which may be done at lower prices compared to the prices of power generation in Lebanon.
He voiced hope that the technical team will draw up the plan quickly so that Lebanon can benefit from the Egyptian gas to feed the Deir Ammar plant, which has a capacity of about 450 megawatts, providing more than 4 hours of energy supply for Lebanese citizens.
The ministers underscored that each country will bear the cost of repairing the network within its territory, adding that: “Within three weeks, we will be ready to review the agreements and evaluate the infrastructure.”
Noteworthy, the Arab Gas Pipeline was implemented in three phases, the first phase from Al-Arish to Aqaba, with a length of 265 km and a diameter of 36 inches, with a capacity of 10 billion m3 per year. The supply of natural gas from Egypt to Jordan began during this phase on July 27, 2003.
The second phase began from Aqaba to the Rehab area in northern Jordan with a length of 393 km. The supply of gas to power plants in the north of the Kingdom began in February 2006. It was completed from Rehab to the Jordanian-Syrian border with a 30-km length and 36 inches in diameter in March of 2008.
In July 2008, the southern part of the third phase of the Arab Gas Pipeline was implemented inside Syrian territory, extending from the Jordanian-Syrian border to the city of Homs, with a 320-km length and a 36-inch diameter. In November 2009, the export of Egyptian gas to Lebanon via Jordan was began until it was halted in 2011.
On the export of Jordanian electricity to Lebanon, Minister Zawati said that another meeting will be held soon to set an action plan for preparing agreements and evaluating the infrastructure.
Source: Jordan News Agency