The Compass – The Lebanese are raising questions about the identity of the gas coming from Egypt to it via Jordan to solve the energy crisis, whether it is coming from fields belonging to Cairo, or from occupied Palestinian fields off the coast of the Mediterranean.

Technically, it is not possible for Lebanon to verify the identity of the gas coming through pipelines or through tankers, if it is extracted from Egyptian or Israeli-occupied fields.

But two issues raise Lebanese doubts about the identity of the “father” of the gas coming to it. The first is related to an Israeli-Egyptian agreement to import 85 billion cubic meters of gas worth $19.5 billion from the Israeli fields of Leviathan and Tamar over a period of 15 years.

The second is the state of chaos left by the statements of the Israeli Energy Minister, Karen Al-Harr, last week, in her comment on the energy crisis in Lebanon.

Al-Harr said: “There is a major energy crisis in Lebanon… No one can examine the particles and know if they come from Israel or Egypt.”

Jordan is also linked with the Israeli occupation, with an agreement that entered into force more than two years ago, to import natural gas for the next 15 years, at a value of $1.5 billion.

This means, that one of the scenarios is the hypothesis that “Israel” will be a source of gas to Lebanon via Jordan directly, without bearing the transportation costs to Egypt, and from there to Jordan.

** official moves

On Sunday, Delek and Riccio, the two partners in the Israeli Leviathan gas field, published a report stating that a jump occurred in gas sales from the field, during 2021, in a quantity of 10.7 billion cubic meters, valued at $1.95 billion.

In its report, the company stated that Egypt and Jordan began importing natural gas from the field more than two years ago, expecting to sign more regional supply contracts during the coming period, without further details.

And last week, a deal was signed in Cairo between the US company Chevron, which operates the Leviathan project, and the Jordan Gas Transmission Company, which will enable an increase in the volume of natural gas exported to Egypt via Jordan, through the transportation infrastructure currently used for export.

In the case of Lebanon, the ice has melted in the official relationship between Lebanon and “Israel,” through indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders, under the auspices of the United Nations.

However, popularly and on the security front, Israel is still in the eyes of the Lebanese and many of its parties the number one enemy, and the permanent threat to the stability of its southern and western borders.

Also, the electricity crisis in Lebanon today is considered one of the country’s largest crises in the energy sector historically, at a time when the state does not have the cash to import from other channels, such as Turkey for example.

** Gas ​​transmission path

The Arab Gas Transmission Line is the closest option to transporting gas to Lebanon, which starts from the city of Aqaba in southern Jordan, extends to the border with Syria in the north, and from there to Lebanon.

The line on the Jordanian side is the same that witnessed the signing of an agreement, last week, between Chevron and the Jordanian Gas Transport Company, to increase pumping quantities destined for the Egyptian market.

While the second option, but it has not been officially traded yet, is the delivery of gas from Egyptian ports to Lebanese ports via natural gas tankers.

Data from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum indicate that during 2021, Egypt was able to export 380 million cubic meters of gas through pipelines, in addition to 2.53 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas.

Egypt is new to the export of gas after the decline in production in the first decade of the current millennium, as it succeeded in discovering new gas fields off the coast of the Mediterranean, and was able to achieve self-sufficiency, and it seeks today to transform into a regional energy center.

Anatolia