Caretaker Minister Bassil: Lebanon has 30 trillions barrels of oil

Caretaker Minister of Energy Gebran Bassil announced on Friday that Lebanon has about 30 trillion oil barrels in 10% of its territorial waters.

Caretaker Minister Bassil's announcement came during the Arab Economic Forum held in Beirut, adding that Lebanese people now have "the courage to extract these resources."

He also asserted that the Ministry of Energy will exert efforts to preserve these resources.

Interest in drilling in the eastern Mediterranean has grown since two natural gas fields were discovered off Lebanon's shores.

Delegates at an oil and gas conference in Beirut in December said Lebanese waters could contain between 30 trillion and 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said in September that one southern bloc alone could hold 12 trillion cubic feet and this was enough gas to produce electricity for Lebanon for 99 years.

Lebanon hopes that gas discoveries could help address its government debt and chronic domestic power shortages, but repeated delays mean it is already several years behind in exploring those potential reserves.