Beirut denies report of plans to export Israeli gas to Lebanon

The Lebanese energy ministry on Sunday "categorically" denied Israeli media reports that gas planned to help Lebanon with its chronic energy crisis would come from Israel.

A Saturday news report on Israeli Channel 12 claimed the US had agreed to supply Lebanon with Israeli gas as an alternative to Iranian fuel, which the militant Hezbollah group had brought into the country last year.

It said Israeli gas would be transported to Lebanon via Jordan and Syria in a US-brokered deal. 

"The Ministry of Energy and Water categorically denies what was mentioned on the Israeli Channel 12 under the title 'Washington agrees to an agreement to supply Israeli gas to Lebanon," it said in a statement, adding: "The ministry confirms that the gas supply agreement that it is working on is between the Lebanese and Egyptian governments."

It reiterated the deal reached between Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, which stipulates that Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity be imported into Lebanon via war-torn Syria.

"What is being circulated about the gas being Israeli is completely false."

Lebanon and Israel remain technically at war, and cooperation between them is illegal.

Lebanon is grappling with round-the-clock power cuts that last up to 22 hours a day due to financial and economic depression, that has hampered key imports, including fuel for ageing power stations.