Lebanon relaunched its first oil and gas exploration and production licensing round after a three-year delay, its energy minister said on Thursday, kick-starting the development of a hydrocarbon industry stalled by national political paralysis.
Lebanon has opened five offshore blocks (1, 4, 8, 9 and 10) for bidding in a first licensing round, Minister of Energy and Water Cesar Abou Khalil told a news conference.
Lebanon, along with Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, sits on the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean where new gas fields have been discovered since 2009.
In 2013, 46 companies qualified to take part in bidding for oil and gas tenders in Lebanon, 12 of them as operators, including Chevron, Total and Exxon Mobil.
But political paralysis, which left Lebanon without a president for more than two years, meant the licensing process was put on hold.
Abou Khalil said these companies will remain qualified to bid and a second pre-qualification round for any more companies interested in exploration and production contracts would run between February 2 and March 31. The qualifying companies will be announced on April 13, he said. Pre-qualified companies will submit their bids to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration on September 15 where they will be considered for a month before being passed to the energy minister and then to the cabinet for final approval.
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