2 yıl önce

Lebanon slams Israeli media reports of gas deal as 'completely untrue'

Israeli media had earlier reported that Tel Aviv will provide gas to Lebanon from the offshore Leviathan field through Jordan under an agreement with the United States.

AP

Lebanon is in the throes of the worst financial and economic crisis in its history that has sunk the once middle-class country into poverty.

The Lebanese government has denied media reports about an agreement to be supplied with gas from Israel.

Israeli media reported on Sunday the country had reached an agreement with the United States to supply Lebanon with gas.

However, the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water described the Israeli media report in a statement as “totally and completely untrue."

“The gas supply agreement that is being worked on between the Lebanese government and the sisterly Egyptian government clearly and explicitly stipulates that the gas should come from Egypt,” the ministry said.

The ministry said the deal to supply Egyptian gas to Lebanon is part of a US-led initiative to help alleviate chronic electricity shortages in the country.

“A second element of the US-led initiative entails supplying the Lebanese power grid with electricity imported from Jordan, also via Syria,” it added.

Israeli media channel, Israeli Channel 12, reported that an agreement was reached between Washington and Tel Aviv to provide Lebanon with Israeli gas from the offshore Leviathan field through Jordan.

The channel said that the deal was brokered by Amos Hochstein, the US special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, and approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'Unbearable situation'

Meanwhile, Internet services were disrupted in Lebanon on Sunday because of diesel shortages, according to the state provider.

Imad Kreidieh, the head of state internet provider Ogero, tweeted that starting early on Sunday a major station in west Beirut, al Mazraa, would run out of diesel and go offline.

The outage affected over 26,000 subscribers, including the country’s General Security operation rooms, he told Al-Jadeed TV.

“The situation is unbearable,” said Kreidieh. “I will not agree to continue in this post unless I have all the authorities and tools to do my job."

By midday Sunday, a resident donated diesel, allowing the station to get back online, he said.

Meanwhile, another neighbourhood in east Beirut, Achrafieh, was out of diesel and operated on batteries.

Lebanon suffers from a severe shortage of electricity supply due to insufficient fuel needed for power generation, in addition to a sharp rise in the prices of derivatives due to the collapse of the lira, and the lack of foreign exchange needed for imports.

In September last year, the energy and oil ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon agreed on a road map to supply Beirut with Egyptian gas to resolve the country’s energy crisis.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies