Anastasiades off to Egypt for first-ever EU-Arab League Summit - CYPRUS MAIL

February 23, 2019

President Nicos Anastasiades leaves for Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday, to attend the 1st EU-Arab League Summit, in the framework of which he is set to have bilateral meetings with heads of states in the region and to promote Cyprus’ initiative to play a coordinating role in introducing policies and strategies by neighbouring countries to tackle climate change.

The EU-League of Arab States (LAS) summit will bring together for the first time, heads of state or government with EU leaders.

European Council President Donald Tusk will co-chair the meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He will represent the EU along with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Anastasiades will meet with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, and Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri and Kind Abdullah of Jordan on Monday.

The meetings will offer the opportunity to further promote and enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the trilateral cooperation and to point out Cyprus’ role as a European pillar of stability and as a state that can boost security in the region by playing its role in the area, a statement said.

Total, Eni, Novatek win first Lebanon offshore licenses - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

DEC/14/2017DANA KHRAICHE

BEIRUT (Bloomberg) -- Lebanon granted its first offshore energy rights to a group comprising Total SA, Eni SpA and Novatek PJSC, joining a regional race to find and develop oil and natural gas wealth in the eastern Mediterranean after years of delay.

The cabinet awarded two licenses in its first offshore bidding round, allowing the companies to jointly explore Blocks 4 and 9, Wissam Chbat, a member of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, said Thursday by phone. The group has one month to prepare legal, administrative and technical paperwork before signing production-sharing contracts with the government in January, Chbat said. Drilling is expected to begin in 2019, he said.

France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek filed their bids to explore the two blocks in October -- the only proposals the government received. The licensing round has encountered setbacks since 2013 amid political disputes over block delineation and government paralysis, leaving Lebanon trailing Cyprus, Egypt and Israel in exploring the eastern Mediterranean. This year bidding was pushed back to give companies more time to understand a new tax law.

Moody's: Lebanese Government unlocks credit-positive oil and gas exploration - CPI FINANCIAL

Sunday 15, January 2017
Georgina Enzer

On 4 January, Lebanon’s (B2 negative) newly formed cabinet approved two decrees to start offshore oil and gas exploration by setting out both the exploration blocks that it will offer and the terms and conditions for exploration and production agreements.

The bidding round will commence within six months, with 14 companies pre-qualified, and authorities expect the exploration phase to last five years. The cabinet’s decision is credit positive for the government because it reflects improved government effectiveness and has the potential to improve the country’s fiscal and external positions.

Lebanon Set to Join East Mediterranean Race for Oil and Gasby - BLOOMBERG

4 January 2017, 3:20pmDana Khraiche

• Cabinet approved two bills setting up rules on tenders, blocks
• ExxonMobil, Chevron among companies qualified to be operators

Lebanon approved two measures allowing it to auction its first offshore oil and natural gas rights, ending three years of delays that kept the tiny country from joining a regional race to tap energy wealth in the eastern Mediterranean.

The newly formed government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri passed the two decrees on Wednesday, state-run National News Agency reported, citing Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Bassil. The decrees demarcate energy blocks, establish production-sharing contracts and specify tender protocols. They take effect with no need for additional approval.

The cabinet formed ministerial committees to study a petroleum tax draft law and another proposed law governing onshore oil resources, Information Minister Melhem Riachi said in a televised news conference. The cabinet also discussed the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund to manage the oil and gas revenue.

Lebanon keen to revive offshore exploration - LINKED IN / MIDDLE EAST OIL & GAS MONITOR

East Med Foreign Ministers: Kasoulides, Bassil and Kotzias.

November 17, 2016Gary Lakes

With the election of a new president and the formation of a new government in the making, Lebanon is looking forward to a time when it might finally move ahead with its long-delayed plans to explore for hydrocarbons in the East Mediterranean. Yet with Lebanese politics being very complex, there’s no reason to expect that the offshore exploration game will come back into play quickly even though a number of politicians and businessmen are keen to get the suspended licensing round moving.

Saad Hariri, leader of the Sunni Muslim Future Movement, is trying to form a government before the country’s national day on November 22. If he meets that deadline it may suggest that there exists sufficient goodwill among Lebanon’s numerous political parties and religious sects to put the country on some sort of track.