Lebanon has shortlisted 46 international oil firms, including U.S. giant ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX) and France's Total SA (TOT), for its first oil and natural gas licensing round in its Mediterranean coastal waters, the Petroleum Administration said.
Lebanon
has
shortlisted 46 international oil firms, including
U.S.
giant
ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX) and
France
's
Total SA (TOT), for its first oil and natural gas licensing round in its
Mediterranean coastal waters, the Petroleum Administration said.
ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total are also among 12 firms that have been pre-qualified
as operators. Others are
Norway
's
Statoil ASA (STO), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and
Italy
's Eni
SpA (E), the administration said on its website.
It added that 34 firms were shortlisted for non-operator status including Korea
National Oil Corp., or KNOC ,
Russia
's OAO
Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and
Japan
's
Inpex Corp. (1605.TO).
Lebanon, which passed an oil law in 2010 and formed a petroleum board last
year, is opening prospects for exploration because it hopes sizeable discoveries
could bring in funds to help cut its high level of government debt and to meet
its domestic power demands. Geophysical data covering the exploration area in
the eastern
Mediterranean
already indicate that the
region contains several trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Last month, the country's energy minister, Gibran Bassil, said in an interview
with Dow Jones Newswires that the country plans to award the contracts in
February next year.
Pre-qualified explorers, which will be allowed to do exploration work in waters
close to
Israel
and
Cyprus
, can
place their bids by May 2.
Once qualified, companies will have to form consortia comprising at least three
members to participate in the licensing round.
Lebanon
, a
tiny Mediterranean country, faces economic and fiscal challenges that are
contributing to its mounting public debt.
Insecurity related to threats from across the borders of its neighbors
Syria
and
Israel
and
internal political and security instability that could jeopardize foreign
investments and tourism have all contributed to the country's fiscal hardships.
By the end of July last year, Lebanon's gross public debt stood at $55.4
billion or 136.4% of the country's gross domestic product, according to the
Association of Banks in Lebanon.
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