Page 22 - DMEA Week 01 2021

DMEA FUELS DMEA

Iraq to supply fuel oil to Lebanese

power plants

IRAQ IRAQ has reached an agreement in late Decem- shortages for years, with many residential and
ber to provide Lebanon with fuel oil supplies commercial electricity users reliant on genera-
Lebanon wants to to cover the needs of its outage-stricken power tors. Blackouts became more common last year
diversify its fuel oil stations. because of the dispute with Sonatrach.
imports after problems Lebanon declared in August it wanted to Lebanese authorities accused the Algerian
with its top supplier diversify its fuel oil imports beginning in 2021, firm of supplying adulterated, low-quality fuel,
Sonatrach. following a dispute with its top supplier, Algeria’s although the company denied this. The dispute
state-owned Sonatrach. The country’s contracts led to supply disruptions, causing outages at Leb-
with both Sonatrach and Kuwait’s KPC expired anon’s power plants.
at the end of December. Sonatrach secured its supply contract with
The deal with Iraq followed a meeting Lebanon in 2005 and it was renewed five times.
between Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jab- While the deal was presented as a state-to-state
bar and his Lebanese counterpart Raymond arrangement, the responsibility for supplies was
Ghajar in Baghdad on December 21. While in fact subcontracted to private firms.
Iraq lacks the refining capacity to meet its Lebanese Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar
own needs for light fuels such as gasoline and said in August that the government would hold
diesel, its fuel oil production exceeds demand. a tender for fuel oil purchases in 2021, offer-
Fuel oil volumes to Lebanon will be “limited ing three-year contracts. The contest is yet to
and [are] to be announced later,” the Iraqi take place, however. In mid-December, Ghajar
ministry said. offered assurances that there would be no short-
Lebanon also began receiving Iraqi gasoil last ages of fuel oil in the new year. “There will not
year, which is also used as feedstock at its elec- be darkness in Lebanon,” he said, noting that
tricity generating stations. there were at least four solutions for obtaining
Lebanon has suffered from severe power supplies. ™

Kuwaiti filling station workers

go on strike

KUWAIT WORKERS at Kuwait National Petroleum Corp Kuwait is undergoing its worst economic
(KNPC)’s filling stations went on a one-day crisis in decades, as a result of the coronavirus
The workers downed strike on December 29 in protest against delayed (COVID-19) crisis and low oil prices. The Gulf
tools after not receiving payments, local daily Al-Qabas reported. state’s economy is worth almost $140bn but had
their salaries in four The workers downed tools after not receiving a $46bn deficit in 2020. KNPC has had to make
months. their salaries in four months, the newspaper said. spending cuts, while the government is facing a
How many personnel took part in the industrial liquidity crisis.
action is unclear, although 120 fuel stations were Citizens in Kuwait have the right to strike,
affected, according to Al-Qabas. Images on but such action is rare. However, thousands
social media showed long queues of motorists of oil workers in the country held a three-day
waiting outside these stations. strike in April 2016 at the height of the previ-
Six hours after the strike began, KNPC ous oil market downturn, causing national oil
issued a statement on Twitter apologising to its production to more than halve to 1.5mn bar-
customers. rels per day (bpd). The workers were protesting
“Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation against planned public sector cuts to wages and
apologises to its esteemed clients for the incon- employee benefits, as well as the country’s priva-
venience at a number of its petrol stations, due to tisation programme.
the delay of the contracting company responsi- Kuwait’s emir approved a new Cabinet in
ble for the employees of these stations in paying December that included new ministers of oil and
their salaries,” the state-run firm said. finance, following the resignation of the previous
KNPC said it was taking the necessary meas- government. The new administration has said its
ures to resume service. It issued additional state- priority will be boosting state coffers and ending
ments later that day confirming that the affected a legislative deadlock preventing Kuwait from
stations were re-opening. tapping international debt markets. ™

P22 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 07•January•2021