Lebanon will launch its first oil and gas exploration licensing round on 2 May, according to a decision reached today by the council of ministers.
A pre-qualification round will start on 1 February, with a list of qualifying companies expected to be released on 31 March. Qualifying companies will be invited to place their bids as of 2 May.
The blocks that will be on offer are yet to be announced but Lebanon contests an area of around 870km² on the boundary with Israel. They have both submitted their maritime borders to the UN in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Energy minister Gibran Bassil said last July that Lebanon demarcated its exclusive economic zone according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Israel has not signed.
Israel has been ahead of its eastern Mediterranean neighbours in taking advantage of its offshore reserves. US independent Noble Energy plans to get the Tamar filed into production in April 2013 and reach peak output of 1bn ft³/d.
Egypt, which has been experiencing shortages in gas, forcing the country to cut all exports and start plans to import LNG, is seeking to boost its production levels. State-owned EGAS has extended the deadline for submitting bids for its 2012 international bidding round by three-months to 13 February 2013.
Lebanon's exploration round comes as the eastern Mediterranean attracts increasing interest from exploration companies looking at Malta, and the politically sensitive waters of Cyprus. Syria's planned round has come to nothing because of the civil war there.