Can Algeria help Lebanon with its decades-old electricity crisis?

For the first time since a fuel scandal fractured ties between Lebanon and Algeria five years ago, Beirut is turning once again to the gas-rich North African state. This time, for help rebuilding a country ravaged by war.

On Tuesday evening, 29 July, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in Algiers. At the top of the agenda: postwar reconstruction and potential energy cooperation.

Southern Lebanon and parts of the Bekaa Valley were left in ruins after nearly 14 months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel that ended with a ceasefire in late 2024. Nevertheless, Israeli airstrikes still continue to this very day.

According to the World Bank, damage from the conflict has exceeded $8 billion as Israeli airstrikes destroyed homes, government buildings and public infrastructure.

"The most urgent area of cooperation today is reconstruction", President Aoun said during the visit. "We don't want lost time or poor decisions to crush people's hope of returning to their land and living there with dignity."

The Lebanese presidency announced that Algeria's sate-owned airlines Air Algérie will resume flights to Beirut on 14 August, after suspending service earlier this year due to regional instability.

The two countries are also exploring a maritime link between Algiers and Tripoli, and are planning agreements on finance, culture and economic development.

For both Beirut and Algiers, the visit marks a push to reset a relationship still shadowed by a fuel scandal that rocked both capitals in 2020.

Algeria's fuel scandal in Lebanon

Between 2005 and 2020, Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation supplied fuel to Lebanon s state-run electricity company, Électricité du Liban (EDL), under a $200 million annual deal.

However, in 2020, Lebanon accused Sonatrach of delivering substandard fuel that triggered blackouts and public outrage.

Protests erupted in Beirut that May as power cuts grew longer. Demonstrators stormed the energy ministry, accusing officials of corruption and negligence.

An investigation in Lebanon led to arrest warrants for more than 20 people, including Sonatrach's Lebanon representative, Tarek Faoual.

Several defendants reportedly admitted to paying bribes to secure the contract.

Local outlets traced the substandard fuel to an old Sicilian refinery and alleged the product failed basic safety and quality tests.

While Sonatrach denied wrongdoing, calling the accusations a "coordinated defamation campaign," Algerian President Tebboune ordered a parallel inquiry into the affair.

A week later, the company announced it would not renew its contract with Lebanon, citing payment delays linked to the country's financial crisis.

Will Algeria renew fuel partnership with Lebanon?

Despite the fallout, Algeria donated tens of thousands of litres of fuel to Lebanon in 2024, during one of the country's worst electricity shortages in years.

Now, officials in Beirut hope Algeria can play a longer-term role in Lebanon post-war.

Lebanon needs roughly 3,000 megawatts of electricity to meet its daily needs, according to its emergency energy plan.

Algeria, one of the largest gas exporter in the region, may be the country's best option for the moment.

After Sonatrach ceased its operations, Lebanon turned to Iraq for its fuel needs. However, due to its high sulphur content, Iraqi fuel cannot be directly used in Lebanese power plants.

Instead, Lebanon purchases a suitable type of fuel from other suppliers through a tender process, suppliers who, in turn, receive the Iraqi fuel.

"Algeria is an Arab country that can play an active role in helping Lebanon, whether through direct bilateral cooperation or via joint Arab initiatives," wrote Daoued Ramal, a Lebanese journalist and political analyst.

"Its vast reserves and political independence make it an ideal partner (...) if the relationship is managed with strategic intent."

Algeria is already helping its neighbour Tunisia keep the lights on, through electricity and fuel exports, in a country with an economic situation not unlike Lebanon's.

However, according to an analysis by Tunisian economist Reda al-Shakandali, this partnership has only worked so well because of "Tunisia's dependence on Algeria in making important political decisions," with Tunisia effectively becoming Algeria's protégé in a region where Algiers is increasingly isolated due to tensions with most of its neighbours (Libya, Morocco and Mali).

So, how an Algeria-Lebanon partnership might look remains unclear.