Lebanon has opened the tender offers to participate in the construction of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals and importing natural gas, Nada Boustani, Lebanese Energy and Water Minister announced, the Daily Star reported.

The minister will reveal the companies that won the contracts within two weeks. These companies will import LNG from abroad and build storage facilities to receive imported gas.

“Had the LNG project been adopted since it was first discussed by the government, and that was back in 2002, Lebanon could have saved up to $2.55 billion over the past 17 years,” the Lebanese paper quoted an expert as saying.

The project will save $200 million a year at least if two of the power plants started running on gas, an anonymous source told the Daily Star.

The electricity deficit, which ranges between $1.5 billion and $2 billion a year is a challenging issue facing the Lebanese government, which is why the Energy Ministry planned to develop an integrated LNG import supply chain to secure offshore LNG imports through selected bidders.