While Syria says the Arab Gas Pipeline on its territory is set and ready, Egypt announces that it is ready to export natural gas to Lebanon in the first quarter of 2022.
Syria’s Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Bassam Tohme revealed that the Arab Gas Pipeline inside Syria is ready to pump natural gas from Egypt into Lebanon.
In an interview with Syria TV, Tohme said, “The Arab Gas Pipeline inside Syria is 100 percent ready. Everything hinges now on a trade agreement between Lebanon and Egypt, pending the signing of a transit agreement with Syria.”
The senior official added that the larger the quantity transferred through the Arab line, the greater the benefit of Syria, but it would remain insufficient to fill the country’s deficit.
Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek el-Molla, expected his country to start exporting natural gas to Lebanon by the first quarter of 2022.
He added in a phone interview with al-Sharq TV, “It is important to us that the Egyptian gas reaches Lebanon as soon as possible. But it is even more important that the deal would go smoothly without any negative repercussions. Therefore, we need our brothers in Lebanon, and all concerned stakeholders and countries through which the gas will go through, to ensure that all the technical, commercial and political measures are in order.”
Molla is referring to potential US sanctions relating to Syria. "We do not want to find ourselves helping ... Lebanon but meanwhile penalized," he told Al-Monitor.
In mid-November, Molla said that Egypt would export between 60 to 65 million cubic feet of gas per day to Lebanon.
Lebanon is banking on Egyptian gas to solve its crippling energy crisis that has worsened over the past month. The country's economic crisis is classified by the World Bank as one of the three worst since the mid-19th century.