Hamadeh Says Oil Decrees Failed to Meet Requirements

Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Progressive Socialist Party has voiced reservations over the approval of cabinet decrees related to the oil excavation file, because it failed to recognize the establishment of a national company to represent the country, and to establish a sovereign fund to save the money, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

PSP ministers, Hamadeh and State Minister for Human Rights, Ayman Shqeir, voiced reservations over the approval of the oil decrees during a cabinet session held on Wednesday.

“We voiced initial reservations over the executive decrees because they failed to recognize the establishment of a national company to represent Lebanon in the agreements with the companies that will be tasked in the explorations and excavation of oil,” said Hamadeh.

“Moreover, the cabinet decrees failed to mention anything about a sovereign fund although the law specifies that a fund must be established to save monetary resources that will be allocated to eliminate the public debt and save for the future generations,” he added.

The Minister also criticized what he described as “extraordinary jurisdictions given to the energy minister, overstepping the powers of the cabinet, particularly when it comes to selecting the oil blocs where excavation would start without referring to the council of ministers.”

The cabinet approved Wednesday the long-awaited oil and gas decrees paving the way for extraction off Lebanon's coast, after more than two years of political deadlock had obstructed previous efforts.