Caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil during his press conference Friday. Dalati and Nohra photo

Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon has signed a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in the northern city of Tripoli, caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said Friday.

Abi Khalil told reporters that Rosneft will manage storage operations.

He said they will start with the development of 450,000 metric tons of capacity, likely to be expanded to 1.5 million metric tons in the future.

The facilities were built about 90 years ago and were used to store oil shipped through a pipeline from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The minister spoke in the presence of Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin