Lebanon recently signed an agreement with Egypt to import some 720 million cubic meters of natural gas per annum from Egypt for a period of 10 years via Syrian territories. In details, the gas will be channeled via the Arab gas pipeline to the Deir Ammar power plant in north of Lebanon, enabling it to generate some 450 megawatts, i.e. the equivalent of some four extra hours of electricity supply on the grid per day. The Lebanese Minister of Water and Energy, Mr. Walid Fayad, commented that the U.S. government has promised its Lebanese counterpart that it will be providing written guarantees to Egypt in order to spare the latter from the provisions of the Magnetsky act. Mr. Fayad also added that the agreement still requires financing from the World Bank to come into effect. As far as the financial terms of the contract are concerned, a statement by the office of caretaker prime minister Mr. Najib Mikati following his meeting with the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon indicated that the price offered by Egyptian authorities is 30% less than global prices.