EDL headquarters in Beirut. The building was blown up in the explosion at the capital's port on Aug. 4, 2020. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Électricité du Liban (EDL) will finally receive its shipment of fuel for December, obtained via the barter agreement between Lebanon and Iraq, Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayad confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.
The press service of the public electricity supplier confirmed the information, specifying that the fuel should be delivered on Dec. 31. The minister added that the procedure for transmitting fuel samples to the Veritas office in Dubai to check conformity will be accelerated, whereas it usually takes 48 hours.
This shipment was due to be delivered earlier this month, but the award procedure was delayed for reasons linked to the execution of the procedure, which was notably delayed by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, as well as "the opening of the necessary letters of credit by the Banque du Liban (BDL)."
According to the minister, the Dubai-based company BB Energy (Gulf) DMCC won the tender for the supply of the fuel oil delivered by Iraq's state-owned State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), and in exchange provided EDL with a load of fuel of equivalent value for use by some of the country's power plants.
According to the minister, this will involve a shipment of around 25,000 tonnes of gas oil for the Deir Ammar (North Lebanon) and Zahrani (South Lebanon) power plants, the largest power plants in the country. This will enable them to run part of their production units over the coming weeks, until the arrival of the next shipment, which will also be procured via a call for tenders under the agreement that has been in force between Lebanon and Iraq since the summer of 2021.
On Dec. 19, EDL announced that it had increased power production rationing to the maximum. The supplier, which was already unable to produce enough power before the crisis erupted in 2019, has seen its capacity reduced to the extreme due to a lack of funding to buy fuel and modernize its power plants. The agreement with Iraq is currently its only lever for powering its plants, some of which are shut down.