Oil! Survey shows strong potential

Hotspots include Qartaba and 20 km-side basin in Western Bekaa

Neos, the US based company tasked with the airborne geophysical prospectivity mapping of 6,000 square kilometers covering the north and transitional areas along the coastline, confirmed the potential of hydrocarbons in Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa.

Chris Friedemann, Chief Commercial Officer at Neos, which ran the Cessna flight survey, said that the indicators show similar results compared to those seen in other projects known for oil and gas production.

Two main ‘depo centers’ are considered specifically interesting, according to the preliminary interpretations of the firm: A mini sub-basin south of Mount Lebanon and east of the Qatarba structure, and a much larger 20 Km-wide sub-basin in the western margin of the Bekaa Valley. These results were announced as a ‘first look’ released by Neos and its local representative, Petroserv.

Freidemann said that “[There are] mineral alterations we look for to infer possible hydrocarbon leakage from subsurface reservoirs over the course of geological time.”
A second look will be released in two weeks and the full interpretation will be handed over to the Ministry of Energy and Water, in May.

“If you had hydrocarbon burying intervals in the subsurface under the Bekaa, these are the types [of indicators] one would expect to see,” he said.