| Lebanon-Syria gas
pipeline completed BEIRUT - A gas pipeline
linking Lebanon with Syria has been completed and a major power station in northern
Lebanon will begin producing electricity with gas from May, the Lebanese energy ministry
said Thursday.
The pipeline was completed on March 17 and when the upgraded Deir Ammar power station,
built near the Syrian border in 1997, comes online it will save Lebanon 100 million
dollars in energy costs, said a ministry statement.
The southern Lebanese power station at Zahrani, also built in 1997, is to come online
within 14 months, the statement said, and will save the country a similar amount of money.
Syria will begin supplying natural gas to Lebanon in June at preferential prices,
delivering 1.5 million cubic metres (52.9 million cubic feet) a day during the first year.
Experts have said cheap Syrian gas will contribute to alleviating endemic deficits at the
national electricity producer, EDL, estimated to total 400 million dollars.
In the future, Lebanon is slated to receive additional gas through a pan-Arab network
linking it with Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. |
