“Lebanon Debate”

The Lebanese markets are drowning in large quantities of adulterated fuel. This became part of the reality that everyone is aware of, and many causes are to blame:
- Monitoring companies have failed in their roles. The Ministry of Energy's laboratory should test each sample from every shipment.
- Several of these monitoring companies have longstanding relationships with fuel importers. Their relationships, which have lasted for over two decades, have become more than professional.

In Lebanon, there are eight monitoring companies licensed by the Ministry of Energy, a relatively high number considering the country's size. For comparison, Kuwait, an oil-rich nation, has only four oil monitoring companies. This number raises several questions: Why does Lebanon have such a large number of such companies? Are all these licensed companies meeting the work requirements? Is there a possible undisclosed relationship between monitoring companies and fuel importers? Furthermore, why aren't international companies with established compliance and extensive experience in this field being considered?

A critical question arises: Why hasn't the Ministry of Energy implemented the Public Procurement Authority Law to conduct fair competitive selections to choose the most qualified companies for fuel auditing, as is common practice in other ministries and public bodies?

قانون الشراء العام يغيب عن وزارة الطاقة