Electricite du Liban (EDL) announced on Friday that it had started unloading one of two shipments of Iraqi fuel that were stuck in Lebanese territorial waters due to a financial hold over the purchase of fuel.

In a statement, the state-owned supplier said it had "started taking the necessary steps to unload the first part of the June cargo" located off the Deir Ammar plant, after the financial hold imposed there by Iraq was lifted. Around 21,000 tons of fuel will be unloaded into the Deir Ammar tanks, EDL said, noting that the rest of the cargo (around 9,000 tons) will subsequently be unloaded at the Zahrani plant, whose stocks are expected to run out after midnight.

A second cargo of around 30,000 tonnes of fuel, anchored off Zahrani, will also be unloaded "once the financial restrictions are lifted", EDL continued.

The public supplier finally affirmed that the Zahrani and Deir Ammar plants will be operational again "as their fuel stocks increase," adding that the electricity production "in the coming days" will be identical to what it was before the plants were shut down.

Iraq gave the green light Wednesday evening to supply Lebanon with fuel, while the country's two still operational power plants suspended or rationed their production. The risk of a blackout loomed after the Deir Ammar plant ceased operations on July 6 and the Zahrani plant was partially suspended the following day. EDL had justified its decision by "financial disputes involving the Lebanese and Iraqi governments as well as the Bank of Lebanon" which prevented it from unloading the two ships that had been in Lebanese territorial waters for several days.