The General Directorate of Oil Installations management in Tripoli and Zahrani – issued the following statement:

A video is circulating on social media showing 75 containers with hazardous substances stored at Tripoli oil installations. The General Directorate of Oil wants to clarify the following:

• According to the directives of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and since the Beirut port incident, the General Directorate of Oil, and in cooperation with the engineering corps in the Lebanese army, has conducted a field survey in all its facilities, and not only in Tripoli, for all the laboratory substances that have been in stocked for years, including those suspected of being dangerous. It was sorted, listed and categorized, according to the priority of disposing the substances in a scientific, objective and environmentally sound manner.
• The General Directorate of Oil took the initiative to communicate directly with the German company “Combi Lift”, the one authorized to transport the substances from the port, which also sorted, listed and categorized the substances, in preparation for its deportation and disposal plan.
• All the substances mentioned are very old and, thus, are classified as dilapidated substances that must be disposed of and do not have explosive specifications as promoted.
• The Ministry of Energy and Water is working hard and fast to deport all substances within the permitted regulations and in accordance with the applicable laws.
• The General Directorate of Oil calls everyone to be accurate and careful and to avoid transmitting any wrong information, and to always obtain the correct information directly from its source.