The equipment will arrive in Lebanese waters and work on Unit Nine is expected to start within 10 days or two weeks, sources at French company TotalEnergies confirmed to the newspaper.
According to the publication, the logistics base will be located in the Beirut port to provide Transocean Barents with the necessary fuel and drilling material and to deliver the working equipment by helicopter and ships.
The French company has reached an agreement with Cyprus to import the materials needed for drilling operations and related supplies, Al Joumhouria said.
In this sense, next Tuesday the election process of a Council for the Union of Subcontractors of Oil Activities and Services to accompany the exploration works in Lebanon will take place.
At the same time, he will support efforts to develop the sector, advise the state, recruit leading expertise and communicate with exploration companies.
On the 19th, France’s TotalEnergies Director General for Exploration and Production in the country, Romain de La Martinière, presented the latest advances related to exploration at Block Nine to Interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
In addition, he mentioned the arrival of the transoceanic Barents Sea in national waters after it had ended its service in the British North Sea.
Last March, the manager indicated that the end of September was the expected date for the start of excavation work on block nine and the results would be announced before the end of the year.
A month earlier, the international consortium TotalEnergies, its Italian partner Eni and Qatar Energy, and the Lebanese authorities announced the completion of the environmental study as the first operational step for drilling in the country’s economic zone.
On January 29, Lebanon announced that Qatar Energy has joined the international consortium along with TotalEnergies and Eni to explore the national coast.
The operators TotalEnergies and Eni currently hold a 35 percent stake as rights holders in block nine, while Qatar Energy acquired a 30 percent stake.
In November 2022, following the demarcation agreement between the Cedar Country and Israel, TotalEnergies launched exploration activities for gas and oil in the Mediterranean Sea off the Lebanese Sea.
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