Lebanon's only active power plant in al-Zahrani has halted operation due to gas and oil shortage, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by Électricité du Liban (EDL)
EDL added that the Deir Ammar plant has also halted operation since only about 6 thousand tons of fuel are left.
EDL can only use this fuel for testing work, which is expected to start the following Monday, 9/1/2023, and is related to general maintenance work for the steam turbine in the factory. Experts from the manufacturing companies, primarily Siemens and Ansaldo, are present or coming to Lebanon to handle this maintenance procedure.
EDL clarified that its announcement is directly correlated with the fact that no fuel shipment arrived during December 2022, according to the Iraqi fuel exchange agreement signed between the states of Lebanon and Iraq.
“The authorities must solve the issue by opening the necessary credits to unload the ships of fuel supplied according to the tenders launched and awarded by the Ministry of Energy and Water through the Public Procurement Authority to provide fuel and gas oil to the production plants," the statement by EDL added.
EDL added the reasons are entirely beyond its control and noted that the national emergency plan for the electricity sector, with its full provisions without exception ratification and approved by the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Ministry of Finance, and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, is an integrated project aimed at securing electricity within 8-10 hours daily and requires the efforts of several concerned institutions and ministries.
EDL will be forced, after obtaining the necessary approvals, to operate the old thermal Zouk and Jiyeh plants from the limited quantities remaining in their tanks of Grade A and/or Grade B fuel oils, which provide little electricity, and this subject to whether the electrical network would remain stable.