Prime Minister Najib Mikati must find fuel to get the country back on track. (photo: Presidency of Lebanon)
LEBANON. The Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Authority announced on Thursday 16 September a new round of fuel rationing. The organization explains that it no longer has any reserves. This is bad news as almost no gas station has any fuel left. The Office specifies that due to the lack of fuel, many power stations are shut down, depriving the country of electricity and thus making water distribution impossible.
Lebanon is reduced to "tinkering" to try to import enough fuel for its vital needs.
Thus, several dozen trucks of Iranian fuel oil arrived today (September 16) in Lebanon via Syria. Bought by Hezbollah, 33,000 tons of fuel should theoretically be distributed free of charge to public health institutions (hospitals, orphanages, old people's homes) or sold in Lebanese pounds to essential sectors (power plants, bakeries ...). Other deliveries should follow in October. Lebanon should also receive gas from Syria. In both cases, these "imports" are subject to the embargo against Syria and Iran. But the US, faced with the urgency of the situation, has decided to look elsewhere.
Electricité du Liban is also expecting 30,000 tonnes of diesel from Iraq. The contract provides for monthly deliveries of 80,000 tonnes for one year. But this diesel is too poor to supply the Lebanese power plants. It will therefore be exchanged for less sulphurous fuel.
The new Lebanese government has made the energy shortage its number one priority. Without fuel and therefore without electricity, the country is paralysed.
Lebanon is reduced to "tinkering" to try to import enough fuel for its vital needs.
Thus, several dozen trucks of Iranian fuel oil arrived today (September 16) in Lebanon via Syria. Bought by Hezbollah, 33,000 tons of fuel should theoretically be distributed free of charge to public health institutions (hospitals, orphanages, old people's homes) or sold in Lebanese pounds to essential sectors (power plants, bakeries ...). Other deliveries should follow in October. Lebanon should also receive gas from Syria. In both cases, these "imports" are subject to the embargo against Syria and Iran. But the US, faced with the urgency of the situation, has decided to look elsewhere.
Electricité du Liban is also expecting 30,000 tonnes of diesel from Iraq. The contract provides for monthly deliveries of 80,000 tonnes for one year. But this diesel is too poor to supply the Lebanese power plants. It will therefore be exchanged for less sulphurous fuel.
The new Lebanese government has made the energy shortage its number one priority. Without fuel and therefore without electricity, the country is paralysed.
