Lebanon's cabinet denies mishandling of Iraqi fuel grant for displaced
Shafaq News- Beirut
A Lebanese newspaper's allegation that Iraq-donated fuel had been sold off before the government formally accepted it landed Friday with the force of a scandal, and drew a detailed, combative denial from the Energy Ministry hours before the cabinet was due to rule on the matter.
At the center of the dispute is roughly one million liters of fuel oil Iraq delivered in April for Lebanese displaced persons. Thirty-one tankers crossed the al-Masnaa border crossing; 940,000 liters arrived after transit losses and have sat, the ministry says, in a dedicated tank at the Zahrani oil facilities under customs seal and independent monitoring ever since.
Al-Akhbar, the Beirut daily that broke the story, alleged portions of the fuel had changed hands below market price before the Council of Ministers accepted the grant by formal decree, the legally required step before any disposal. The Energy Ministry called that account "full of fallacies, slanders, and fabrications."
The ministry's technical defense went further. Laboratory tests at the Industrial Research Institute and at Zahrani's own central laboratory found the donated material incompatible with Electricité du Liban's specifications and with the 10 PPM diesel standard for road vehicles. Classified as gas oil, it is suited for industrial bakeries and factories, which is why the ministry has proposed selling it to those sectors at a discount rather than distributing it directly to displaced persons. Officials also disputed Al-Akhbar's description of the fuel as "red mazout," saying its color is closer to yellow.
On the separate allegation that Zahrani had already conducted unauthorized sales, the ministry clarified that what was sold on two days over a two-week period was green diesel from the facility's own standing stock, not the Iraqi grant. Proceeds, it said, went to Banque du Liban to fund incoming fuel purchases, a routine liquidity measure with no connection to the donation.
What the ministry did not address is the question Al-Akhbar's reporting leaves hanging: whether displaced Lebanese will see any direct benefit at all. If the fuel is sold and proceeds deposited into an official account, no mechanism has been publicly confirmed for directing that money toward its intended recipients. The newspaper had also called for a financial and administrative audit; the ministry's statement made no mention of one.
Neither the Iraqi Ministry of Oil nor the office of the Prime Minister has issued a statement confirming, qualifying, or commenting on this specific shipment, the 31 tankers dispatched in April for Lebanon's displaced.
Energy Minister Joe Saddi formally requested on May 19 that the grant be placed on the cabinet agenda. A government file reviewed by Al-Akhbar shows the proposed terms: sell the stored quantities at 100 to 150 dollars below the official price schedule per kiloliter, exclusively to industrial operators and bakeries, with public institutions, fuel stations, and generator operators excluded.
The Council of Ministers was scheduled to take up the matter later Friday.
