The oil and gas reserves recently discovered in the Mediterranean have attracted the interests of international and regional energy companies, noting that exploration in the said region is financially complicated and technically demanding due to the deep waters exceeding 2500 meters.
13 companies participated as Right Holders Operators and 38 companies as Right Holders Non-Operators.
The pre-qualifications to screen the most eligible companies to take part in the petroleum related activities in Lebanon were based on stringent legal, financial, technical and environmental criteria.
One consortium comprising three companies (Total, ENI and Novatek) submitted two bids for the blocks 4 and 9, where Total was appointed as operator.
But what if the licensing round did not attract many consortiums? The law oil prices could be the main reason.
However, when compared with Cyprus and Israel, Lebanon’s situation seems to be better.
Lebanon, after delaying the launching of the first licensing round until after passing the tax law, managed to attract the interest of 3 companies, while Israel, that has postponed the licensing round three times, did not receive bids from any company.
In turn, Cyprus, after postponing three times, received bids from seven companies.
In conclusion, if Lebanon had not missed the opportunities in 2013 due to political conflicts at the time, it would have been closer to extracting oil.
For more details, watch the full report in the video above