Caretaker Energy Minister Nada Boustani announced Friday the launch of the first executive step in the oil exploration process, which is the issuance and delivery of the drilling license for the first exploratory well in Block 4, to the Consortium of Total, Eni and Novatek, noting that the drilling will be executed by a ship owned by Vantage company, currently located in Egypt.
In a press conference, the minister expected the ship to arrive in January 2020, explaining that the drilling process will take up to two months and another two months to analyze the findings to know whether or not there is a commercial exploration; given that the success rate is globally 1 out of 3 exploratory wells.
She noted that this event come as a result of many efforts exerted by former ministers since 2009, stressing that the main efforts are drafting and passing the laws and decrees, holding the licensing tenders all the way to signing the contracts for the blocks 4 and 9 with the beginning of President Michel Aoun’s era.