Jordan on Sunday, September 6, approved natural gas supplies to Lebanon via Aqaba and Syria to support Lebanese power generation, the official Petra news agency reported. The move comes as state utility Électricité du Liban currently provides an average of only around four hours of electricity a day.
The Jordanian government said the gas would be imported as LNG through Aqaba, regasified at the port and then transported to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria. No volumes or date for the first deliveries have yet been announced.
Jordan has already been using the same route to supply Syria since January 2026. An agreement between Amman and Damascus allows deliveries of up to around 4 million cubic metres per day through the Arab Gas Pipeline.
Gas Bound for Deir Ammar
In Lebanon, the gas is expected to supply the Deir Ammar power plant, near Tripoli, which has an installed capacity of 465 MW.
Lebanon’s Energy Ministry has been working since this summer to rehabilitate the pipeline linking the Syrian border to the plant. In early August, Energy Minister Joe Saddi said maintenance work was expected to take around another four weeks, followed by two weeks of testing once gas deliveries begin.
Contracts covering gas purchases and transit through Syria were also in their final stages of preparation.
Using gas would reduce Deir Ammar’s reliance on imported diesel and fuel oil. Those supplies still have a direct impact on EDL’s output: in August, the state utility briefly suffered a nationwide blackout after fuel stocks at Deir Ammar and Zahrani ran out.
Up to Four Additional Hours Envisaged in 2022
Lebanon had already tried to revive the same route in 2021-2022. An agreement with Egypt and Syria provided for 650 million cubic metres of gas a year to be delivered to Deir Ammar through Jordan and Syria.
Beirut estimated that those volumes could add around 450 MW to the grid, equivalent to as much as four additional hours of electricity a day.
The plan never became operational. Lebanon was waiting for US assurances over sanctions imposed on Bashar al-Assad’s government, as well as financing from the World Bank.
Gas has been flowing again between Jordan and Syria since January 2026. Sunday’s decision would extend that mechanism to Lebanon, but the volumes earmarked for Deir Ammar, their price and the date of the first deliveries have yet to be specified.