Block 8 seismic survey deal
awarded to Norway firm TGS

Postwar hopes to attract French

and US bids to third licensing round

The Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) has granted a license to TGS, a Norwegian seismic specialist and provider of energy data, to carry out three-dimensional (3D) seismic surveys in an area of 1,300 square kilometers in Block 8 in southern Lebanon.

Block 8 is the only one, out of the ten offshore blocks, that was not subjected to a 3D seismic survey because that was not possible before signing the maritime border demarcation agreement, said Walid Fayad, caretaker Minister of Energy and Water.

TGS will not only secure investments from companies interested in data but it has also committed to finance half the cost of the survey operations and will assist in marketing the surveys, according to Fayad. He said: “We are counting on attracting international companies, French and American ones in particular, especially now, after the approval of the ceasefire agreement.” Earlier this year, MoEW postponed the deadline for the submission of applications for bidding to the third exploration licensing round from July 2, 2024 to March 17, 2025.

Fayad said that the consortium of TotalEnergies, Italy’s Eni, and QatarEnergy was not awarded the exploration deal in blocks 8 and 10 in the second licensing round because it didn’t commit to two new conditions required by the Council of Ministers, which are to shorten the exploration period and increase the State’s share in the event of a commercial discovery. He said he hopes the consortium will abide by these requirements and will show interest in the third round.

From 2006 to 2013, seismic survey companies PGS and Spectrum conducted 3D surveys covering 80 percent of the Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone. TGS, which acquired Spectrum in 2019 and completed its merger with PGS last year, will reprocess previous offshore data by using advanced technologies and will merge datasets from earlier surveys and then present the information to international exploration companies.

“Lebanon could become an oil country when it comes to natural gas, taking into consideration existing proven discoveries in neighboring regions. There is no reason for not having gas in the Lebanese sea, while it has been discovered in abundance in neighboring countries,” Fayad said.