Oil licensing deadline extended

Renewed calls for ratifying pending decrees

The Ministry of Energy and Water has extended the deadline of bidding for oil and gas from November 4 to December 10. The reason behind this extension is that two decrees still need to be ratified: The first decree concerns the delineation of maritime blocks, and the second concerns bidding, and exploration and production agreements.

If, however, the decrees are approved before the deadline, the Petroleum Administration and the Ministry could proceed according to the previous set schedule. In this case, contracts would be signed by end-March 2014.

The Ministry said in a statement on September 4 that blocks 1, 4, 5, 6, and 9 will be open for the first round of bidding. The Ministry pointed to the possibility of opening all blocks for bidding especially if a Council of Ministers holds a session to ratify the two oil decrees left.

Minister of Energy and Water Gebran Bassil called on the President and Cabinet to sign the decrees at the earliest. “The delay in ratifying the decrees would vex the 46 companies prequalified for the bidding process, as some might withdraw their bids,” said a statement by the Ministry.

According to Bassil, “the delay in moving along with the schedule serves Israel that is rushing to get ahead of us in the race of oil and gas exploration.” Israel has recently discovered a gas field very close to two blocks along the southern borders of the Lebanese territorial waters. An exploratory well was drilled 15 km away from these blocks. “This means that Israel theoretically has the opportunity to access our petroleum resources.”