Ogero CEO Imad Kreidieh estimated on Twitter that the capacity of the public company could be strongly impacted by power outages and increased pressure on the generators of telephone exchanges. He also notes that the fuel needed for these generators is running out.
ان الارتفاع المستمر بساعات التقنين الكهربائي يتسبب بضغط كبير على مجموعات توليد الطاقة التابعة @OgeroTelecom و زيادة الطلب على المحروقات التي باتت نادرة هي ايضا. استمرار الوضع بهذا الشكل يهدد جديا امكانية اوجيرو بتقديم الخدمات.
– Imad Kreidieh (@ikreidieh) June 6, 2021
اللهم اني بلغت ، اللهم فاشهد. @Talal_A_Hawat @MOT_LB
This week, Electricité du Liban reported that only one tanker was able to see its merchandise unloaded on the 4 present off the Lebanese coast. In question, the cancellation by the Constitutional Council of the advance granted to it by Parliament and the inability to obtain the necessary lines of credit by the Banque du Liban following an appeal presented by the Lebanese Forces bloc
Thus, only the Zouk power station was able to benefit from a replenishment and will be able to see its production capacity increased. The other power plants will have to reduce their respective productions. For now, this would reach only 720 megawatts against a total capacity of 1900 megawatts and a demand of 3500 megawatts.
As a result of this rationing, all Lebanese regions, including the capital Beirut, are thus affected by power cuts, recalls Electricité du Liban, which also notes that the maintenance of power plants also requires financing in foreign currency. , funding now interrupted.
As a reminder, the advances received by the EDL constitute the third item of public expenditure annually, accounting for almost 3% of the GDP annually. They were notably induced by the decision of the state in 1997, to impose a price of electricity production on the basis of a barrel of oil at around 15 USD, inducing a large differential between production cost and price at the sale of the kilowatt hour and consequently, a significant annual deficit of up to $ 2 billion annually. EDL’s financial situation worsened further with the obsolescence of its power plants further increasing costs and the financial inability for it to build new ones.
At the beginning of the month, Electricité du Liban had warned against the interruption of the supply of electricity by the end of this month because of the suspension of the advance of 200 million dollars by the constitutional council following to an appeal presented by the Lebanese Forces deputies.
On the fuel side, this Friday, while many gas stations had to close their pumps, many motorists were also lining up in front of the few stations still open. For their part, gasoline importers estimate that current stocks will only be able to satisfy a little over 40% of the current market, also implicating the Bank of Lebanon which is slow to grant the lines of credit necessary for unloading. tankers yet present in front of the Lebanese coast.
