An oil and gas exploration ship arrived Wednesday at its designated point in Lebanese territorial waters.
Ali Hamiya, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, said in a statement on the “‘Kas” platform (formerly Twitter), “The oil and gas exploration ship for Block No. 9 has reached its specified drilling point this morning.”
Back in December 2017, the Lebanese cabinet approved licenses for oil and gas exploration for three companies: Russia’s “Novatek”, Italy’s “Eni”, and France’s “Total”, in both Block 4 north of Beirut and Block 9 south of Lebanon in the Lebanese maritime waters.
“Novatek” of Russia sent a letter to the Lebanese Ministry of Energy in June 2022, informing them that it no longer wished to continue its contractual obligations, which constituted 20% of the contract signed with the consortium of committed companies for exploration in the two blocks.
On January 29, the amended annexes of the exploration and production agreements for the two blocks were signed, marking the entry of “Qatar Energy” as a partner to “Total Energies” and “Eni”.
The participation percentages in each of the two agreements became as follows: “Total Energies” at 35%, “Eni” at 35%, and “Qatar Energy” at 30%. Lebanon’s share in the event of oil and gas discovery ranges between 54% and 63% after deducting operational and capital costs.
Lebanese maritime waters comprise 10 blocks or sectors, which are offered for bidding successively during the licensing rounds organized by the Lebanese state.
