Reuters, Amman

The Lebanese government said on Wednesday it was working with the World Bank to secure financing for a plan to import Egyptian gas via Jordan and Syria to generate power for Lebanon, which is struggling with an economic crisis and acute power shortages.

Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar was speaking at a news conference after meeting his Jordanian, Syrian and Egyptian counterparts in Amman to discuss the plan to reduce power outages in Lebanon. Daily life has been paralyzed in Lebanon by the power crisis that is part of the country’s wider economic meltdown.

The state-owned power company is generating only minimal amounts of power, leaving businesses and households almost entirely dependent on small, privately-owned generators. Industry experts put Lebanon’s peak power demand at 3,500 MW. The country has installed capacity, including power barges it rents, to generate about 2,200 MW - but the output is well below these levels.

Egypt’s petroleum minister Tarek El Molla said he hoped Egyptian gas would be exported as soon as possible.

REUTERS

Lebanon’s Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar, Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati, Syria’s Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Bassam Tohme and Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla meet in Amman, Jordan on September 8.