Intel: Egypt seeks US sanctions assurance in gas plan for Lebanon
Egypt's minister of petroleum and mineral resources says his government needs a guarantee from Washington that Cairo's involvement in the Arab Gas Pipeline project will be exempt from US sanctions on Syria.
Egypt is still seeking “proper clearance” from the United States so that it can supply natural gas to energy-starved Lebanon without exposing itself to sanctions targeting the Syrian regime and its benefactors, the Egyptian petroleum minister told Al-Monitor during his visit to Washington last week.
“We do not want to find ourselves helping our brothers in Lebanon but meanwhile penalized,” explained Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla. “Therefore we need to make sure that we will get the proper clearance,” he said. “So it's a work in progress.”
