Lebanon is in the dark

With the Zahrani plant completely closed yesterday, Lebanon has entered a new phase of harsh legalization. It is an accident that occurred for the first time a long time ago, and which has affected the country at an already difficult time, an increase in the hours of rationing and the lack of the necessary elements to produce electricity. In recent weeks, electricity production operations in Lebanon were affected by the delay of the Central Bank of Lebanon in opening the funds necessary to import the fuel, by any failure of the factories, by the delay of fuel ships in the unloading of materials. , and by precautionary measures for the Electricity of Lebanon … All these factors are available, and two new elements were added yesterday. The main dilemma in the Zahrani factory incident is that some of its causes are not related to the factory itself, but to factors “outside the control of the parties”, such as its fuel insurance. Therefore, it is considered worse than shutting down the Zahrani Factory that no one can determine when it will restart.

On March 26, the diesel steamship from Kuwait was supposed to arrive at the Al Zahrani factory. Navigation in the Suez Canal was stopped and the ship was delayed, which will continue indefinitely, signifying a lack of materials necessary to operate the factory. This is the first problem that afflicted Al-Zahrani. The second problem is related to the type of diesel used. Diesel imported from Kuwait is used to cover half of the factories’ diesel needs, over a period of three months after the end of the contract. Therefore, the Ministry of Energy proceeded to launch the “Spot Cargo” tenders (immediate) to compensate for the shortage of material. In fact, the ship “Histria Perla” reached the Lebanese coast, but could not unload. According to the “Electricity of Lebanon”, there has been a change in the inspection method required by the company “Siemens”, which is the manufacturer of the turbines, and it differed from the previous method that was required during the days of the contract. with the Kuwaiti company, after Bureau Veritas laboratories confirmed that it could not be applied. The Ministry of Energy and Water and EDL have tried to work hard to resolve the dispute and find a graduate, to this day without success. Lebanon Electricity confirmed that continued correspondence with the two companies did not yield any results. According to the information, the German company “Siemens” has not yet responded to the request of the Emirati laboratories “Bureau Veritas” to provide it with the approved mechanism to apply such a test method to “Gas Oil”. As for the responsible Lebanese authorities, they hope to take any steps while waiting for “Siemens” to establish its position.
Will settling the controversy lead to the steamer spewing diesel? No, because the ship “Histria Perla” has not yet completed its banking procedures and is therefore unable to operate. The Banque du Liban took a long time, on Wednesday, to open the company’s loan, which it wrote to the Correspondent Bank abroad to obtain its approval, a ruling that will not be settled before receiving its money.

Berri did not have initiative, but ideas that he discussed with Hariri

The combination of these factors led to a decrease in production to 900 MW, although EDL resorted to making up the shortfall by operating the Baalbek and Tire plants, noting that the Zahrani plant had previously been reduced in two stages to avoid the possibility of extinction. thus reducing its production from 450 MW to 225 megawatts, then to 120 megawatts in the last week, before it finally shut down yesterday.
Darkness also applies to the government archive, which has not witnessed any development in the past two days. At the end of last week, it was based on an “initiative of the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri” regarding the formation of the government, and it was seen as an “opportunity” for a solution. However, well-informed political sources confirm that “there is no practical initiative, or at least it has not been discussed with the political forces active in the country.” What Berri did was discuss ideas and present alternative options with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, which fell short of the initiative. Based on those inquiries, it was stated that Hariri does not mind resigning from an 18-member government and seeking to increase the number, without addressing the other issues, notably the “third party guarantor” arrangement. This does not mean that the consensus will lead to the formation of the government, and the last few days have shown to what extent Hariri linked his decision to the international – regional “veto” of a Lebanese government, when he obstructed the solution after President Michel Aoun He agreed to abandon the demand of the third guarantor, which led the President of the Republic to return to his previous claims.

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