Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said briefed the Cabinet yesterday on a request he sent to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) to begin preparations for the launch of a second offshore licensing round for oil and gas companies.
“This is a strategic measure being taken by Lebanon. Companies must know in advance that Lebanon is set at the end of 2018 and at the beginning of 2019 to launch this round so that they can prepare the necessary human and financial resources for it in order to be able to participate in this round,” Abi Khalil said. Lebanon signed its first offshore oil and gas exploration and production contracts in February for two energy blocks off the coast of the Mediterranean. A consortium consisting of Total, ENI and Novatek were awarded blocks 4 and 9.
