The Ring highway plunged into darkness in Beirut, January 2022. (Credit: Matthieu Karam)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced that the In Ecker tanker departing from Algeria will arrive in Lebanon on Monday, Fayad said Friday, following a blackout by state power provider Electricité du Liban on Saturday due to fuel depletion. Since then, Lebanese residents have relied almost entirely on private generators for electricity.
Speaking at the radio station Voice of Lebanon on Friday, Fayad explained that the "Energy Ministry has taken a sample from the cargo sent via DHL to Dubai for testing. If it meets specifications, citizens will gradually experience improved supply starting from Tuesday."
However, the estimated time of arrival of the tanker to Beirut is set, as per the tracking platform MarineTraffic.com, to Aug. 28, or next Wednesday. The ship is currently located off the coast of Sicily, after its departure yesterday from Algeria.
The In Ecker tanker transports the first cargo of 30,000 tons of fuel that Algeria decided on Sunday to send to Lebanon, as a donation. Other cargoes will follow but, for the moment, the total quantity of fuel that will be sent has not been communicated.
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.
Until 2020, the State-owned Sonatrach company was providing fuel to EDL, but Algiers did not renew its contract after a scandal that had erupted in April of the same year. Electricite du Liban had then reported to the judiciary that Sonatrach had delivered defective fuel the previous month, even though the tests conducted at the Beirut port appeared to disprove this claim.
EDL had previously warned several times, since early July, about potential delays in the last expected fuel shipment, normally coming from Iraq in the frame of an agreement established in 2021 and yearly renewed.
Under this contract, Lebanon receives fuel oil that is unusable by EDL plants, which it then exchanges through a tender mechanism for other types of fuel compatible with Lebanese facilities. In return, the Finance Ministry deposits an amount equivalent to the supplied quantities into an account at the BDL, so that Iraqi authorities spend these sums exclusively in Lebanon in exchange for services — the nature of which has not been specified in the agreement
Over the past months, Lebanese authorities claimed that there has been a several weeks delay on Iraq’s side. In a press statement earlier this month, EDL stated that “no cargo has been delivered under the agreement concluded between Iraq and Lebanon ... neither in July nor August to date.”
On Monday, the Iraqi government denied “rumors that Iraq has stopped supplying Lebanon with fuel,” adding that the delay in the latest shipment is due to “technical and logistical reasons.”
In case of war Lebanon has 'one month of fuel supply'
On another hand, Fayad explained Friday that in case of a major war between Israel and Hezbollah “across the whole country … some government hospitals will receive direct supply from EDL."
He also noted that "the system of generators spread across all areas, as well as the expansion of solar energy, could provide some protection against an energy crisis, in case the [Israeli] Zionist enemy targets the electricity grid."
Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in almost daily clashes, with Israel repeatedly threatening to invade Lebanon and launch a full-scale war.
Fayad reassured that "Lebanon has sufficient oil supplies for a month or more, necessary for essential needs such as ambulances, hospitals, and ensuring water pumping."
On Tuesday, Fayad explained that U.S. sanctions under the Caesar Act and political disputes have significantly impacted EDL operations. Sanctions targeting anyone doing business with Bashar al-Assad's government since 2020 contributed to the indefinite suspension of a 2022 project to import Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity via Syria to boost EDL capacity temporarily.
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.
