BEIRUT — Queues formed at gas stations across Lebanon Wednesday as fuel prices increased and shortages were linked to delays in payments to importers and increased demand over the weekend in light of the parliamentary elections.
Here’s what we know:
• A number of gas stations closed on Wednesday while queues were spotted at stations in Corniche al-Mazraa and Saida, according to the state-run National News Agency.
• “Lebanon is not facing a fuel crisis,” Gas Station Owners’ Syndicate spokesman George Brax told the NNA, adding, “gasoline is available in depots and tankers … the issue is related to some delays in payments from banks to fuel importers.” Explaining the gas station closures, Brax said, “fuel distributors are supplying gasoline in limited quantities and some stations’ reserves have been depleted.”
• On Thursday, Fuel Distributors’ Syndicate representative Fadi Abou Chakra told the NNA that distributors “supplied gasoline during the election period despite not receiving the substance from importers since the Friday before.” Abou Chakra also confirmed Brax’s statement on not supplying fuel to gas stations due to “issues with banks and Banque du Liban in transferring payments at the Sayrafa rate.”
• Fuel shortages also led to the shutdown of the Deir Ammar power plant on Wednesday in Tripoli, North Lebanon due to dwindling gas oil reserves. State electric utility Electricité du Liban said in a statement that the shutdown was a “precautionary measure to maintain a bare minimum electricity production for around four days” by shifting operations to the Zahrani power plant while awaiting fuel shipment set to arrive Friday and which should be unloaded by Monday.