Iraq to provide Lebanon with fuel for another year: Lebanon PM
World
Iraq has agreed to renew a one-year deal to provide Lebanon with fuel for its power plants.
BEIRUT (AFP) - Iraq has agreed to renew a one-year deal to provide Lebanon with fuel for its power plants in exchange for in-kind services, Lebanon s Prime Minister said in a statement Thursday.
Iraq signed an agreement in July 2021 to give cash-strapped Lebanon one million tonnes of fuel oil to help keep the lights on as the country grapples with power cuts up to 23 hours a day during an unprecedented economic crisis.
"The Iraqi government, headed by Mr Mustafa al-Kadhemi, approved in a meeting today... to extend the supply of fuel to Lebanon... for a period of one year, under the same conditions as before," Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati s office said in a statement.
For the past year, Lebanon s power plants have depended on the deal with Iraq to produce one to two hours of electricity per day.
Residents in the poverty-stricken country largely rely on expensive private generators for power the rest of the time.
The Iraqi oil cannot be used directly by Lebanon s power stations, so Beirut will continue to buy compatible fuel from other providers which will receive the Iraqi oil in exchange.
At the time of signing, last year s deal was worth $300-$400 million, Raymond Ghajar, the Energy minister at the time had said.
As fuel prices shot up, the deal is now worth an estimated $570 million, Lebanon s Energy Minister Walid Fayad told AFP last month.
An Iraqi ministerial delegation is expected to visit Beirut shortly to agree on the in-kind services that Baghdad wants in return for the fuel, Fayad said.
Iraq is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but suffers from its own electricity shortages.
Lebanon is battling one of the planet s worst economic crises since the 1850s, and the state-run electricity company faces dire cash shortages.
