Qatar plans to supply gas to Lebanon to assist the government in addressing the country’s electricity shortages. This was announced by Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
"His Excellency reaffirmed Qatar’s commitment to supporting Lebanon by supplying energy resources and meeting its gas needs for electricity production," stated the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At a press conference following the talks in Beirut, Al Thani emphasized that Qatar would participate in Lebanon’s reconstruction efforts and continue its support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. President Aoun, in turn, urged QatarEnergy, along with France’s TotalEnergies and Italy’s Eni, to resume exploration activities in Lebanon's exclusive economic zone, which is believed to contain significant gas reserves. Offshore drilling in Lebanon had been suspended in 2023 due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.
On August 17, 2024, Lebanon's state electricity company, Electricité du Liban, halted operations due to a lack of fuel, leading to the shutdown of the last operational power plant in Zahrani, southern Lebanon. A year earlier, Lebanon faced a similar energy crisis when the Deir Ammar and Zahrani thermal power plants stopped operations due to unpaid debts to their operators.
Qatar, ranked third globally in natural gas reserves and sixth in production, became the third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in December 2024, following the United States and Australia, according to a report by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
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Based on materials from TASS