Karadeniz says it will close supplies unless Beirut disrupts legal action to seize its barges and fix the delays.
Turkish Karadeniz, which supplies electricity to Lebanon from electric barges, said on Tuesday that Beirut should stop legal action to seize its ships and order delays or close supplies to the country that is mired in a financial crisis.
A Lebanese prosecutor issued a decision last week to seize the barges and fine the firm after al-Jadeed TV channel reported allegations of corruption related to the energy contract.
The firm denies the charges and said over the weekend that it had not been paid for 18 months, a period that coincides with Lebanon’s financial crisis.
A spokesman for Karpowership, a Karadeniz unit that operates floating plants, issued the demands after Lebanon’s finance ministry quoted a politician as saying the country could face “total darkness” if the company closes supplies. .
Even before the economic crisis, Lebanon was unable to meet energy demand, forcing many people to rely on private generators. Daily daily cuts have been growing steadily for longer and have lasted much of the day in Beirut, before the latest threat to supplies.
Lebanese lawmaker Nazih Najem was quoted as saying that the Turkish power supply could be stopped later this week.
Lebanon’s economy has plummeted under a mountain of debt, leaving the government struggling to find foreign currency to meet even basic food requirements and other import needs, including fuel to power its inadequate power plants. .
The Karpowership spokesman said Lebanon must stop the action of a prosecutor to seize the company’s barges and must draft a plan to resolve the delays.
The ministry said Karadeniz had threatened to disconnect the supply worth about 400 megawatts (MW), and said this would reduce generation capacity to 900 MW, well below the demand which according to some past estimates exceeds triple that level.
Karadeniz had warned over the weekend that he could cut supplies, though he also said he hoped “a reasonable solution could be reached urgently” so that supplies could be kept running.
