Lebanon's Zahrani oil facilities seen as strategic asset amid search for new regional energy routes

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Lebanon's Zahrani oil facilities have re-emerged as a potential strategic energy hub. While the infrastructure remains significant, its future role depends on political stability, regional cooperation, and major rehabilitation efforts.

The Zahrani oil facilities consist of three main components: storage tanks, an offshore loading terminal, and a refinery. Beginning on November 10, 1950, the complex received Saudi crude oil transported from the Kingdom's Eastern Province through the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline), which crossed Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria before reaching southern Lebanon.

Successive Arab-Israeli wars, Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights and Lebanon's civil war ultimately brought Saudi oil shipments through the pipeline to an end. As regional efforts intensify to identify alternative oil transport routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the Zahrani oil facilities are being considered as one of the options.

The storage tanks once fed crude oil by gravity to the offshore loading terminal, where pipelines extended into the Mediterranean to mooring points used by oil tankers. A control room regulated the flow through the terminal's four export outlets, but modernization efforts ceased after pipeline operations were suspended.

The Zahrani complex also housed a refinery that supplied part of Lebanon's domestic demand for petroleum products, particularly gasoline and diesel. The refinery is no longer operational.

Although the return of Saudi crude through the historic pipeline is not considered realistic in the foreseeable future, officials and experts say the facilities could still play several strategic roles if regional conditions improve.

One proposal envisions transporting Iraqi oil to the Tripoli oil facilities in northern Lebanon before extending a pipeline to Zahrani, allowing Iraqi crude to be exported from the southern terminal. 

Another scenario would see the facilities serving as an export platform for natural gas, and oil should commercially viable reserves be developed in Lebanon's offshore blocks, particularly in the south. The site could also be expanded as a regional hub for importing and storing refined petroleum products.

Ziad El Zein, director of the Zahrani oil facilities, described the complex as a vital and strategic national asset that complements the Tripoli oil installations. He said that while numerous proposals have been put forward for the site's future, the priority is for authorities to make clear decisions and move toward implementation so Lebanon can reclaim its place on the region's economic and energy map.