Lebanon has delayed for the second time the first auction of oil and natural gas licenses in its Mediterranean coastal waters after the government failed to vote on decrees needed to start the bidding process, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said Wednesday.
Lebanon has delayed for the second time the first auction of oil and
natural gas licenses in its Mediterranean coastal waters after the government
failed to vote on decrees needed to start the bidding process, Energy Minister
Gebran Bassil said Wednesday.
On his Twitter page, Mr. Bassil blamed "some Lebanese officials" for
the delay in the first bidding round, but didn't give a new date for the
process to start.
Last month, he said the first bidding round had been postponed to Dec. 10 from
Nov. 4 and could face another delay if the cabinet failed to approve the
necessary decrees by Oct. 2.
Lebanon
has
already short-listed 46 international oil firms to bid in the licensing round.
ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) of the
U.S.
,
France
's
Total SA (TOT),
Norway
's
Statoil ASA (STO), Anglo-Dutch multinational Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and
Italy
's Eni
SpA (E) are among 12 firms that pre-qualified as operators, according to
Lebanon
's
Petroleum Administration.
The administration also short-listed 34 firms as non-operators, including Korea
National Oil Corp.,
Russia
's OAO
Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and
Japan
's
Inpex Corp. (1605.TO).
Mr. Bassil had previously said that
Lebanon
would
be able to sign energy contracts by March 31 next year if the government voted
on the necessary decrees by Oct. 2.
Lebanon, which passed an oil law in 2010 and formed a petroleum board last
year, is opening prospects for exploration in the hope that sizeable
discoveries will help it cut high levels of government debt and meet domestic
power demands. Geophysical data covering the exploration area in the eastern
Mediterranean
indicate the region contains several trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The tiny Mediterranean country faces economic and fiscal challenges that are
contributing to its mounting public debt. Insecurity relating to threats from
across its borders with
Syria
and
Israel
, as
well as internal political instability that could jeopardize foreign
investments and tourism have contributed to the country's hardship.
By the end of July last year,
Lebanon
's
gross public debt stood at $55.4 billion, or 136.4% of gross domestic product,
according to the Association of Banks in
Lebanon
.
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