Cairo says it hopes to send gas to beleaguered Lebanon by the end of the year as it prioritizes piped volumes via the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP) through Jordan and Syria over LNG exports. With a myriad of issues standing in the way, could regional players find a way to make it work?
While the feasibility of sending gas from Egypt via Jordan and Syria to Lebanon has been questioned by many, including MEES, this hasn’t prevented politicians of those countries pledging to make it happen. Following a meeting earlier this month in Amman, the ministers of oil and energy of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon vowed to get gas to power-starved Lebanon at the earliest opportunity (MEES, 10 September). The US, particularly the country’s Beirut embassy, has also been pushing the plans – seemingly regarding a deal that would at least in part bring Syria’s President Assad out of diplomatic isolation as a ‘lesser evil’ than Hezbollah supplying Lebanon with Iranian fuel (MEES, 24 September). (CONTINUED - 1399 WORDS)
