Bassil Postpones Oil and Gas Tenders for 3rd and 'Last' Time
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil postponed for the third time on Wednesday tenders for the licensing of offshore oil and gas exploration to April 10 after the resigned government failed to approve two decrees.
“We thank all the companies that wanted to participate and take the risk to invest in Lebanon at these difficult circumstances,” Bassil said during a press conference he held to announce the postponement.
“We are giving another three months. This will be the last time that the postponement is made,” he warned.
“April 10 is the final date if there were enough companies to participate in the tender,” he said.
The tender has been previously postponed for two times over the failure of the caretaker cabinet to approve the decrees that call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.
Bassil has worked hard to persuade caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati to hold a cabinet session to approve the decrees.
But Miqati argues that the issue requires a unanimous political agreement and that a caretaker cabinet can't approve non-essential decrees.
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