View of Beirut, November 2022. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The Algerian oil tanker In Ecker set sail for Lebanon on Thursday with a first cargo of 30,000 tons of fuel intended to restart the country's power plants and prevent it from remaining plunged into darkness. On Sunday, Algeria decided to provide, in solidarity, the quantities of fuel necessary for the operation of Lebanon's power plants. Other cargoes will follow but, for the moment, the total quantity of fuel that will be sent has not been communicated.
The Algerian decision was taken by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune after the announcement on Saturday by the Lebanese public electricity supplier (EDL) that the power stations would be shut down due to lack of fuel.
Prime Minister Nadir Larbaoui "had a telephone conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati to inform him of the decision taken by President Tebboune to stand by brotherly Lebanon ... and to immediately supply it with quantities of fuel, in order to operate the power plants and restore electricity."
The loading of fuel on board the tanker In Ecker, belonging to a subsidiary of the state-owned oil and gas group Sonatrach, began on Tuesday at the oil port of Skikda, more than 400 km east of Algiers, and continued for 18 hours, Hocine Belabed, a head of Sonatrach's commercial activities in Skikda, told the official APS news agency. He added that a wait of several hours was necessary after the end of the loading to finalize the technical commercial and security procedures before the ship could weigh anchor for its destination.
This fuel shipment destined for Lebanon was produced at the Skikda refinery, which has a production capacity of around 16.5 million tonnes per year.
Algeria is the leading African exporter of natural gas and the 7th worldwide.
