Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayyad’s press office said in a statement that within the framework of the distinguished bilateral relations between Lebanon and France, Minister Fayyad met on Monday with France’s most prominent officials in the public and private sectors, upon invitations he had previously received.

Fayyad kicked off his visit to the French capital in a meeting with Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of “TotalEnergies”. The meeting discussed the best ways to activate the company’s presence in Lebanon and reviewed the company’s role in gas exploration in Lebanon, especially Block 9.

Pouyanné confirmed the company’s readiness to provide Lebanon with the necessary infrastructure to store and gasify liquid gas in Lebanon, according to a statement by Fayyad’s press office.

“Both sides have agreed that TotalEnergies would conduct a preliminary technical and financial study that would pave the way for submitting a comprehensive offer for the construction of a floating gasification plant FSRU at Al-Zahrani station site, as well as supplying it with liquid gas, knowing that the required quantities range from 650 million cubic meters annually for the current station, to approximately one billion and four hundred million cubic meters per year after constructing an additional power station,” the statement added.

“The French side has confirmed its interest in investing in the field of alternative and renewable energy: solar and wind energy, as well as in enhancing the share of alternative and renewable energies in the total energy produced in Lebanon,” the statement said, noting that “these projects are easy and quick to implement for TotalEnergies, which has promised to look into the means to implement them, especially in light of the difficulty that Lebanon may face in securing the necessary financial guarantees, and in light of the tariff increase plan that the Ministry of Energy and Water intends to put into effect.”

The statement concluded that Pouyanné had promised to support the initiative of the Embassy of Lebanon in France, which had been adopted by Minister Fayyad, regarding the establishment of an energy alliance that brings together French companies operating in Lebanon with the aim of providing official institutions, especially public schools and universities, with solar energy.