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Lebanon restores power supply after 24-hour blackout

It comes as fuel shortages caused the country's two largest power stations to shut down, bringing Lebanon's power network to a complete halt.

sun sets on city skyline and the buildings have no power
Beirut was left in complete darkness due to the outage. Source: AAP, AP

Lebanon's power supplies went back to normal on Sunday after a blackout the previous day when the country's two biggest power stations shut down because of a fuel shortage, the Energy Ministry said.

The closure piled further hardship on Lebanese people struggling with job losses, soaring prices and hunger wrought by the country's worsening financial meltdown.

The ministry said it had received central bank approval for $100 million in credit to issue fuel import tenders for electricity generation, adding the country's grid had resumed supplying the same amount of electricity as before the complete outage.

On Saturday, Lebanon's two largest power stations, Zahrani and Deir Ammar plants, shut down due to fuel shortages, bringing the Lebanese power network to a complete halt.

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The Lebanese army agreed on Saturday evening to provide 6,000 kilolitres of gas oil distributed equally between the two power stations, the state electricity company said in a statement reported by the official National News Agency.

Lebanon has been paralysed by an economic crisis that deepened as supplies of imported fuel have dried up.

The Lebanese currency has fallen by 90 per cent since 2019.

Many Lebanese normally rely on private generators that run on diesel, although that is in short supply.


2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters, SBS




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