Page 10 - DMEA Week 38 2021

DMEA SUPPLY DMEA

First trucks arrive in Lebanon

to help relieve fuel crisis

MIDDLE EAST THE first of several truck convoys carrying Ira- the Lebanese Red Cross, Civil Defence forces
nian fuel and ordered by Hezbollah has arrived and orphanages, Al Jazeera reported. Private
in Lebanon from Syria, Al Jazeera reported a hospitals, bakeries, factories that produce med-
Hezbollah spokesperson as saying on September icines and other institutions could purchase the
16. Lebanon is suffering crippling fuel shortages fuel at a low cost in Lebanese pounds at a not-for-
amid a dire economic crisis, but the shipments profit price yet to be determined, Nasrallah also
violate US sanctions applied to Iran. reportedly said.
Two convoys totalling 40 fuel trucks were The US has designated Hezbollah as a “terror-
reported as entering Lebanon by the Iran-linked ist” organisation. Though the Iranian fuel tanker
Hezbollah political and militant group’s Al did not dock in Beirut, Lebanon could still get hit
Manar television channel. The fuel was collected with secondary sanctions by the US because the
from the first of four Iranian fuel tankers to dock fuel was financed, transported, and distributed
in Syria’s Baniyas port earlier this week. through US-sanctioned entities.
Oil export monitor Tanker Trackers has Neither Lebanese nor US officials on Septem-
assessed the four-tanker shipment as containing ber 16 commented on the delivery.
a total of 33,000 tonnes of gasoil, a volume that Last week, Lebanon finally formed a new gov-
would need 792 trucks for delivery to Lebanon. ernment after 13 months of political wrangling.
Amid an energy crisis stemming from an eco- Prime Minister Najib Mikati and ministers have
nomic meltdown, Lebanon has suffered waves of prioritised resolving the country’s fuel crisis.
power cuts for months. The state has struggled to Iranian fuel shipments sent via tanker and
provide more than a couple of hours of electricity truck convoy are widely seen as only a quick fix
per day. With three-quarters of the population in that cannot last.
poverty, families often can’t afford the climbing The energy minister has announced that a
costs of private generators and the diesel fuel it first shipment of Iraqi fuel is set to arrive some
takes to run them. Hospitals in Lebanon are in time this week. The Lebanese-Iraqi deal is a bar-
their own crisis as they struggle to source enough ter where Iraq provides high-sulphur fuel oil
fuel to keep functioning. in exchange for goods and services. Given that
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nas- high-sulphur fuel oil is not compatible with the
rallah said in a speech earlier this week that a country’s power plants, the Lebanese govern-
month’s supply of the Iranian fuel would be ment selected Dubai’s ENOC in a tender to swap
donated to institutions such as public hospitals, the shipment with compatible fuel.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 23•September•2021