Qatar is offering to take over Lebanon’s power supply problem at no upfront cost to Beirut. A draft program seen by Reuters has Qatar building two gas-fired power plants within three years and QatarEnergy supplying the gas under a 20-year LNG contract, with private financing in place of Lebanese public money. The document leaves payment obligations and guarantees open for negotiation, and Lebanon’s state utility currently delivers only a few hours of electricity a day.
The National Integrated Energy Investment Program includes two 825-megawatt combined-cycle plants, one at Deir Ammar in the north and one at Zahrani in the south. QatarEnergy would deliver gas through a floating storage and regasification unit with capacity of 3.5 million cubic meters per day, and through the Arab Gas Pipeline via Syria at 4.5 million cubic meters per day. The plan adds 800 MW of solar, 440 MW of wind, battery storage, and 300 MW of power imports from Syria over two routes. A person familiar told Reuters that the build-out could take three years if both governments approve it quickly.
Lebanon’s state utility, Electricite du Liban, supplies only a few hours of power a day. Private diesel generators provided about half of the country’s electricity at the start of 2026, according to a report cited by The National. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Friday that Qatar would finance, run and operate the project, and that QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies would jointly develop a solar plant as the first stage. Lebanon’s economy is expected to shrink by 6% to 7% this year.
The program would extend Qatar’s power business in Syria, where a consortium led by Qatar’s UCC Holding signed concessions in November 2025 for 5,000 MW of generation: 4,000 MW of gas-fired combined-cycle plants and 1,000 MW of solar.
The gas supply depends on Qatari LNG getting out of the Gulf. An Iranian missile strike on Ras Laffan on March 18 knocked out two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains, and QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi said last month that Qatar was producing a “very minute” volume of LNG. LNG flows through Hormuz remain more than 75% below pre-war levels, and QatarEnergy has extended its force majeure on deliveries every month since early March. On Monday, a Qatari cargo loaded in August was sailing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal toward Poland, a rare use of the shortest route to Europe.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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