Lebanon: Fuel Crisis Worsens Amid Warnings of 'Social Explosion'

Citizens protest against fuel shortage and power cuts, Beirut, February 28. (Photo: EPA)
Citizens protest against fuel shortage and power cuts, Beirut, February 28. (Photo: EPA)
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Lebanon: Fuel Crisis Worsens Amid Warnings of 'Social Explosion'

Citizens protest against fuel shortage and power cuts, Beirut, February 28. (Photo: EPA)
Citizens protest against fuel shortage and power cuts, Beirut, February 28. (Photo: EPA)

Lebanon’s fuel crisis has worsened during the past two days. Following a fuel shortage, which caused long power cuts that exceeded 15 hours per day in Beirut and other areas, a scarcity of petrol and diesel exacerbated people’s sufferings.

During the past few days, angry protestors took to the streets, cutting roads in several areas of Beirut and torching tires and garbage containers, blaming the government for the severe power outage.

The fuel shortage is directly linked to the lack of liquidity with the government to import petroleum products in fresh dollars. The crisis will extend to all other services that need to be paid in dollars, as explained by the member of the parliamentary public works, transport, energy and water Committee, MP Faisal Al-Sayegh.

Sayegh noted that the crisis would further worsen as buying fuel after the end of March would require issuing a law to give Lebanon’s electricity company (EDL) emergency cash advance of hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as earmarking tens of millions of fresh dollars for the operation and maintenance of the Deir Ammar (North) and Zahrani (South) power plants, in dues claimed by Primesouth Company.

The two plants (Deir Ammar and Al-Zahrani) provide 55 percent of the total power production capacity in Lebanon, which is the equivalent of 900 megawatts and about 9 to 10 hours of supply per day.

Moreover, two Turkish ships - Fatima Gul and Orhan Bey - which Lebanon uses to produce electricity, could leave the Lebanese shores as the government failed to settle their dues, which amount to around USD 160 million. This means that Lebanon will lose 25 percent of the electricity production.

Asked about the agreement concluded with Iraq to supply Lebanon with one million barrels of fuel for electricity and 500,000 barrels of crude oil, Sayegh noted that the agreement had not been translated on the ground, adding that the Ministry of Energy was intending to make some amendments to it.

Sayegh warned against an imminent popular explosion, saying that fresh dollars could only be secured by foreign aid through the International Monetary Fund, which requires reform and the formation of a government. Therefore, no solutions can be envisaged before forming a government that would immediately work on reform, he underlined.



Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
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Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo

Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday it holds the Kurdish regional government (KRG) legally responsible for the continued smuggling of oil from the Kurdish region outside the country.

The ministry reserves the right to take all legal measures in the matter, it added.

Control over oil and gas has long been a source of tension between Baghdad and Erbil, Reuters reported.

Iraq is under pressure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output to compensate for having produced more than its agreed volume. OPEC counts oil flows from Kurdistan as part of Iraq's quota.

In a ruling issued in 2022, Iraq's federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude oil supplies.

The ministry said the KRG’s failure to comply with the law has hurt both oil exports and public revenue, forcing Baghdad to cut output from other fields to meet OPEC quotas.

The ministry added that it had urged the KRG to hand over crude produced from its fields, warning that failure to do so could result in significant financial losses and harm the country’s international reputation and oil commitments.

Negotiations to resume Kurdish oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline, which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supply, have stalled over payment terms and contract details.