Nationwide blackout in Syria following Arab Gas Pipeline blast

MENA

Published: 2020-08-24 18:13

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 15:39


Nationwide blackout in Syria following Arab Gas Pipeline blast
Nationwide blackout in Syria following Arab Gas Pipeline blast

An explosion hit the Arab Gas Pipeline near Damascus resulting in a countrywide blackout in Syria, reported Syrian state media on Monday.

The blast caused a huge fire in the early hours of Monday morning, which the Oil Minister, Ali Ghanem, said coud have been a “terrorist act”.

No deaths or injuries have been reported and power was restored to the southern parts of the country shortly after the explosion.

The pipeline transports natural gas from Egypt into Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The same part of the pipeline has previously been targeted five times, which has negatively affected the existing oil and gas infrastructure.

One power cut has been caused by rebel shelling in 2013 but no entity took responsibility for the other four attacks.

The country has been running low on fuel for a year and the collapse of the Syrian pound has increased already high poverty levels across the country.

Prices of food, fuel and transport have risen resulting in protests against the government in the southern parts of the country.

An American oil company made an agreement with the Kurdish administration to market and renovate existing oil fields, which the White House is believed to have encouraged.

The deal has prompted criticism from the Syrian government which called it an illegal attempt to steal the country’s energy resources.