Lebanon's energy minister and Iranian delegation discuss fuel imports

BEIRUT — Caretaker Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad met on Saturday with an Iranian delegation headed by Ambassador Mojtaba Amani, with whom he discussed a possible donation of Iranian fuel oil to Lebanon, which is in the grip of an electricity crisis. A Lebanese delegation expected to travel to Tehran soon to discuss the matter took part in the meeting.

On Sept. 7, Reuters reported that Lebanon is preparing to send a delegation to Iran to discuss free fuel procurement. If the deal goes through, the fuel would be the first delivered directly to the Lebanese state by Tehran, which has previously sent fuel to its local ally Hezbollah, which is represented in the government. The United States has imposed heavy sanctions on Iran's energy sector, meaning that any party conducting a financial transaction with Iran could be subject to secondary sanctions.

Fayad said that "this initiative is of strategic importance because it will be the starting point for the implementation of the electricity plan drawn up by the ministry and approved by the government," according to a report by the state-run National News Agency.

This plan "was followed by another emergency plan to increase the hours of power supply in order to increase the electricity tariffs to ensure a financial balance to Electricité du Liban," he added. Presently, EDL, the state power provider, provides barely two to three hours of electricity per day and its tariffs are now derisory with the record depreciation of the Lebanese lira.

Fayad welcomed "this [possible] donation, which is the result of an initiative launched by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a proposal also put forward by the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil," son-in-law of President Michel Aoun.

Fayad, who is close to the FPM, added that following this initiative, the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri met to discuss it and contacted the Iranian vice president, which allowed the project to be "welcomed at the national political level."

For his part, the Iranian ambassador said that his "country is ready to help Lebanon not only in terms of fuel supply but in everything related to the energy sector, including the construction of power plants in the medium term." He added that he hoped that "this initiative will presage other cooperation in all areas."

Lebanon has struggled with power outages for decades, but its economic collapse since 2019 has drained state coffers, slowing fuel imports for oil facilities. Most of the country is supplied with electricity for only one or two hours a day. Consumers are thus forced to rely on subscriptions to private generators, the cost of which has soared with the surge in world oil prices.

In this context, Fayad said Friday that the Mikati government is in discussion with Kuwait and Algeria to import fuel oil. Beirut has already signed an agreement, for the second year in a row, with Iraq, for the import of fuel. An agreement has also been reached with Damascus and Cairo to obtain Egyptian gas via Syria and Jordanian electricity.