Lebanon opens five oil and gas blocks for bids on licences

The Levant country has returned to open five offshore blocks for bidders in its first licensing round since 2013, the country's energy minister says.

After a three-year hiatus, Lebanon has opened bids for oil and gas licences. Wael Hamzah / EPA

Lebanon re-launched its first oil and gas licensing round after a three-year delay, the energy minister said on Thursday, kick-starting the development of a hydrocarbon industry stalled by national political paralysis.

Lebanon has opened five offshore blocks (1,4,8,9 and 10) for bidding in a first licensing round, the minister of energy and water Cesar Abou Khalil told a news conference.

In 2013, 46 companies qualified to take part in bidding for oil and gas tenders, 12 of them as operators, including Chevron, Total and Exxon Mobil.

But political paralysis, which left Lebanon without a president for more than two years, meant the licensing process was put on hold.

Mr Abou Khalil said these companies will remain qualified to bid and a second pre-qualification round for any more companies interested in exploration and production contracts would run between February 2 and March 31. The qualifying companies will be announced on April 13, he said.

Pre-qualified companies will submit their bids to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration on September 15 where they will be considered for a month before being passed to the energy minister and then to the cabinet for final approval.

Mr Abou Khalil said the choice of blocks offered in the first licensing round was dictated by the likelihood of finding exploitable quantities of oil and gas, and by the need to protect Lebanon’s resources along its border.

Lebanon, along with Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, sits on the eastern Mediterranean gasfield discovered in 2009.

* Reuters

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