By Eslam Abdelmagid Eid
The electrical interconnection project is one of the most important areas of cooperation within the framework of the New Levant Project, which was signed by the leaders of three countries: Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, in order to transfer electrical energy from Egypt to Jordan, and then Iraq, and to built a gas transmission networks between Egypt and Iraq through Jordan.
The three parties are within the eight electrical interconnection group, which includes Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Libya, in addition to Turkey, while Lebanon is looking to draw electric energy and gas from Egypt and then Jordan through the Syrian territories, in order to face the electricity crisis that Lebanon is going through. At the same time, Syria will try to benefit from this matter from an economic and logistical point of view, in order to solve the severe shortage crisis of resources, including electric power.
Positive developments regarding the electrical interconnection project
In light of the acceleration of work on the new Al – Sham project, and the clear desire of the three parties to move forward towards the implementation phase of the previously held agreements, Egypt and Jordan agreed to raise the electric capacity between the two countries from the current 500 megawatts to 1000 megawatts. The countries of the region, according to a joint press statement issued after a meeting by the Jordanian Minister of Energy, “Saleh Al-Kharabsheh” and the Egyptian Minister of Electricity, “Mohamed Shaker”, discussed plans to expand the electrical connection between Egypt and Jordan.
Al-Kharabsheh confirmed that, within two months, tenders for the implementation of the Jordanian electrical connection with Iraq will be referred, meanwhile the Jordanian Minister of Energy expressed the clear desire to increase the amount of electric energy exported, so that Jordan can conclude important deals between it and neighboring countries to transfer gas and electricity from Egypt to neighboring countries, such as Iraq and Lebanon, and also benefit from the support of the United States, which sponsors the process of transferring electricity to Lebanon, in addition to the World Bank.
It is worth noting that the exchange between Jordan and Egypt in the field of electrical energy since 1999, and the Jordanian electrical network is linked to the Egyptian electrical network with a 400 kilovolt submarine cable, which extends across the Gulf of Aqaba with a length of 13 km and a capacity of 550 megawatts.
What is behind the transfer of Egyptian gas to Lebanon?
Last August, the Lebanese presidency announced that the United States of America agreed to help Lebanon to get electricity by facilitating the transfer of Egyptian gas through Jordan and Syria to northern Lebanon, in a clear indication of the United States’ agreement to exempt Lebanon from the sanctions imposed on Syria, and affecting countries that conduct any commercial and economic dealings with Syria under Caesar’s Law.
However, the most prominent obstacle to completing this process remains the actual response of the World Bank in order to secure financing for the price of Egyptian gas, repair and strengthen electricity transmission lines, and required maintenance of gas pipelines, in addition to Syria’s need for a long period of time in order to prepare its infrastructure and electrical networks, some of which have been disrupted due the ongoing war in the country since 2011, in order to be able to assur the transfer to Lebanon.
Perhaps Syria appears to be the biggest beneficiary of this process, which will provide it with three very important opportunities, especially in light of the difficult conditions it has been experiencing for 10 years in generating electricity because Syria suffered from a severe shortage of electric power.
Syria can impose taxes that provide it with a financial return in exchange for the transit process, whose costs are supposed to be covered by the World Bank, and this is what Jordan proposed, instead of Syria obtaining part of the gas that will cross to Lebanon.
This process will open a way for Syria to get out of the state of isolation imposed on it by the international community, as the new Sham project itself considers Syria an important complementary element in it, and if Syria is excluded from it, it will be considered incomplete. The project will support the development of relations between Jordan and Syria in addition to Egypt. So Jordan will begin the process of transferring its exports and opening up to the Syrian market, and thus Syria will achieve economic and political gains at the same time as a result of this project.
Iraq is an expected winner
There is no doubt that Iraq is an essential and vital element in the new Levant project. The project in itself depends mainly on Iraqi oil resources. Egypt has a sufficient stock of electrical energy, therefore, Iraq can benefit from borrowing it from Jordan.
The Iraqi Minister of Communications, “Arkan Shihab Al-Shaibani” stated that the electrical interconnection project with Jordan and Egypt will be completed within the next four months, and Egypt plans to link Iraq significantly with its electrical system, as Egypt has a surplus of generated electricity that exceeds 35,000 megawatts.
It is likely, as the Egyptian Minister of Electricity “Mohamed Shaker ” stated in June of this year, that the Egyptian plan for the transfer of electricity to Iraq will begin at the end of 2024 in several phases gradually. The first phase will be represented by the transfer of about 150 megawatts after increasing the electric capacity In the Jordanian lines, meanwhile the second phase will start with the inauguration of another line to transmit electricity from Amman to Baghdad with a length of 300 km and is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, with an initial transfer of about 700 megawatts in the first year of operation, which may rise to 1,000 megawatts in the following two years.
Iraq is looking for an electricity supplier alternative to Iran, which announced a 40% reduction in the quantities of gas exported to Iraq, due to Baghdad’s failure to pay the outstanding debts, which created a major crisis in Iraq, which lost nearly 6,000 megawatts due to the suspension of 6 power stations. Iraq has been suffering for years from an electricity crisis, which intensifies in the summer, and Iraq hopes that Egyptian electricity will be the best solution to this crisis.
In sum, the intention appears clear on all sides for the success of the process of extracting electricity and gas from Egypt, with Jordan as a link point between Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and even Syria. The US administration does not seem to object to this project, but rather it may be the mind. Although this project is clearly connected to the Assad regime, which US opposes, it will be one of its strategies to keep the countries of the region relatively away from Iran, especially in Iraq and Lebanon, which have a large number of militias loyal to Tehran. However, the biggest question remains, how serious are all parties involved in implementing the project on the ground, in light of the difficult circumstances that the Arab region is going through.
Author: Eslam Abdelmagid Eid (Academic, political researcher, and specialist in Middle East affairs)
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or views of World Geostrategic Insights).