Lebanon plans to go ahead with its first auction of oil and natural gas licenses in its Mediterranean coastal waters next month, despite the government's failure to vote on decrees needed to start the bidding process, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said Thursday
Lebanon plans to go ahead with its first auction of oil and natural gas
licenses in its Mediterranean coastal waters next month, despite the
government's failure to vote on decrees needed to start the bidding process,
Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said Thursday
The country has already deferred the licensing round from Nov. 4 to Dec. 10,
and then Jan. 10, after the cabinet failed to approve two decrees, but Mr.
Bassil said on his Twitter page that the auction will go ahead regardless of
the political bickering that has yet to be resolved.
"We are determined to complete all the procedures on time...the tender
will inevitably happen," he said.
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).
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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