Nazarian: Exploration of Offshore Wealth Requires Political Decision

Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian considered on Sunday that the exploration of Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas requires a solid political decision by the rival parties.

The minister urged in comments published in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah the cabinet to swiftly approve two decrees essential to award the oil blocks for oil companies.

The decrees call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.

“Things are on the right track,” Nazarian pointed out, expressing hope that the upcoming months would hold positive developments associated with a political breakthrough.

Acute discord among Lebanese officials over the designation of blocks open for bidding and the terms of a draft exploration agreement is delaying the tender process.

The country's oil and gas wealth attracted around 46 Arab and international companies in the second pre-qualification round of the tenders process.

The tender of licensing for gas exploration has been postponed for five times over the failure of the cabinet to approve the decrees that call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.

Lebanese officials continuously expressed fear that Israel's discovery of a new offshore gas field near Lebanese territorial waters means the Jewish state could siphon some of Lebanon's crude oil.