NNA – Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad on Thursday announced that a reconnaissance permit has been granted to a consortium of international companies to conduct a 3D seismic survey of Lebanonrsquo;s offshore Block 8.
ldquo;Today is a historic day in a journey that had started in the year 2010,rdquo; Fayyad said at a press conference.
The ministerrsquo;s announcement coincided with the beginning of gas exploration in Block 9.
ldquo;There are major hopes pinned on this block (#8) hellip; and it had not been possible to launch the survey prior to demarcating the border with Israel, something that took place (last year),rdquo; Fayyad added.
Cash-strapped Lebanon hopes that future gas discoveries will help it pull itself out of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.
In 2017, Lebanon approved licenses for an international consortium including Francersquo;s TotalEnergies, Italyrsquo;s ENI and Russiarsquo;s Novatek to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of 10 blocks in the Mediterranean. The borders of one of the two blocks were disputed by neighboring Israel until a maritime border deal was reached last year.
In January, Lebanon, ENI, TotalEnergies and state-owned oil and gas companynbsp;Qatar Energy signed an agreementnbsp;in which the Qatari firm replaced Novatek. Under the deal, Qatar Energy will take Novatek#39;s 20% stake in addition to 5% each from ENI and TotalEnergies, leaving the Arab company with a total stake of 30%. Total and ENI will each have 35% stakes.
Under the U.S.-mediated deal between Lebanon and Israel that was signed in October, the disputed waters would be divided along a line straddling the ldquo;Qanardquo; natural gas field in the Mediterranean. Gas production would be based on the Lebanese side, but Israel would be compensated for gas extracted from its side of the line under a separately signed deal between TotalEnergies and Israel. — Naharnet
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