State power provider Électricité du Liban. (Photo: National News Agency - NNA)
BEIRUT — Pumping of diesel from the Zahrani oil facilities to the power plant resumed on Sunday following the plant's complete depletion of its reserve, the director of the Zahrani oil facilities, Ziad al-Zein announced in a statement.
The last operational unit at the Zahrani power plant was forced to shut down on Saturday, resulting in a total power outage across all Lebanese territories.
“Pumping began at 3:00 a.m., with the delivery of 5 million liters from the [oil] facilities to the Zahrani power plant on loan, via the transmission line that connects them, and after completing all administrative, technical and legal files," Zein said in the statement.
He expected that "after the meeting of the Board of Directors of Electricité du Liban, a decision and a statement will be issued regarding the date of restarting the plant," which will initially only provide power to "vital facilities."
The shutdown has had a significant impact, affecting essential facilities such as the airport, port, water pumps, sewage systems and prisons, according to a statement from the state power provider Electricité du Liban (EDL) on Saturday.
Caretaker Public Works Minister, Ali Hamieh, said in a post on X on Sunday that Lebanon’s only airport is “powered and running using its own generators.”
“The Energy Minister and the Electricité du Liban promised that tonight the electricity supply will be restored by the institution, especially since its supply by generators is an exception that cannot be maintained,” he added.
Commenting on this latest twist in Lebanon's electricity issue, former General Director of General Security Abbas Ibrahim lamented that the new outage was due to the state's failure to uphold its "promises" to Baghdad. "What is required is to honor commitments and keep promises," he wrote on X. General Ibrahim was part of the delegations that negotiated the 2021 agreement with Iraq for the purchase of fuel.
L'Orient Today attempted to contact the Sérail and the Ministry of Energy without success.
2000 tons of fuel supplied
For his part, Energy Minister Walid Fayyad confirmed to local TV channel LBCI on Sunday that, "before midnight, the Zahrani plant will restart, with a reduced capacity that may reach 150 megawatts, after it was supplied with about 2,000 tons of diesel from the Zahrani facilities as a first stage."
He added that "another 2,000 tons [of diesel] will be supplied in the coming few days." Fayyad pointed out that "this measure allows for the stability of the network and the supply of vital facilities with electricity, most notably the airport, for a week, in the hope that the Board of Directors of the Electricité du Liban will take a decision regarding securing additional quantities of fuel oil."
On Saturday, EDL stated that it will reactivate the units that were forced offline, in line with the reserves available, once fuel oil is secured. The company has promised to gradually restore power and electricity supply to their previous levels.
Contacted by L'Orient Today on Saturday, Fayad had indicated a timeline of 24-48 hours for the restoration of power. Fayad stated that a procedure is being finalized to transfer fuel compatible with EDL's power stations that is stored in Lebanese oil installations.
This development comes just days after the cabinet announced an agreement to "purchase some of the necessary fuel" to prevent EDL from shutting down all its power plants. The government has adopted several measures, including allowing EDL to use funds in Lebanese lira to settle a fuel bill with Iraq, and authorizing the Energy Ministry to purchase a cargo of 30,000 tons of fuel on the spot market.
The South Lebanon Water Establishment has also been impacted, stating that the EDL outage has had a "significant impact on its ability to pump adequate water supplies."
EDL's power plants regularly run out of fuel, causing chronic electricity shortages in the country and forcing Lebanese citizens to rely on private generators.