Lebanon, Egypt, Syria sign gas flow deal on 'Arab Gas Pipeline'

By Murat Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - Lebanese, Egyptian and Syrian authorities signed an agreement for the re-flow of gas from the "Arab Natural Gas" line on Tuesday in Beirut.

Lebanese Energy Minister, Walid Fayyad, Syria's Deputy Ambassador to Beirut, Ali Abdulkerim Ali, and Egypt's Ambassador to Beirut, Yasser Allavi, were present at the gas agreement ceremony held at the Lebanese Ministry of Energy.

Under the agreement, 720 million cubic meters per year will be sent from Egypt to Lebanon.

"With Egyptian gas, (Lebanese) citizens will be able to provide electricity for four more hours a day," Fayyad confirmed.

According to Fayyad, parties to the agreement requested that Egypt be exempt from the Caesar Act, which covers US sanctions on the Assad regime in Syria.

Egypt called on the US administration to support the implementation of the agreement, in consideration of the fact that the World Bank fully finances Egyptian gas imports.

- US-sanctioned agreement

A meeting was held in the Jordan capital of Amman on Sept. 9 last year when Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan agreed on the restart of the Egyptian-owned Arab Natural Gas Pipeline as well as gas exports to Lebanon.

However, due to the Caesar Law, which covers US sanctions on the Assad regime in Syria, no concrete progress was made over the past nine months.

Jordan and Egypt have requested written approval from the US that they will not be subject to sanctions.

Against these concerns, the Lebanese Energy Minister said in December 2021 that the US gave the green light to the implementation of the project, but despite this, no steps have been taken.

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser on energy security at the US State Department, who mediated for the disputed maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, said after arriving in Beirut on June 14 that they would look at the final agreement between Egypt and Lebanon to evaluate the sanctions compliance of the natural gas project.

- Arab Gas Pipeline

The third 90-kilometer section of the 1200-kilometer pipeline, costing US$1.2 billion in 2009, passes through Syria.

Testing on gas imports from the Arab Gas Pipeline to Lebanon began in 2009, resulting in the temporary supply of gas to the Deir Ammar Power Plant in Tripoli.

However, natural gas imports to Lebanon came to a complete halt in 2010, with security incidents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the developments that followed the Arab Spring demonstrations in the country, and the outbreak of the civil war in Syria.

Due to the deep economic crisis in Lebanon since 2019, citizens can only avail of state electricity for four hours a day.