In the Grand Serail (government palace) the interim Prime Minister Najib Miqati; Head of Energy Department Walid Fayyad and executives from the three companies signed the supplemental pact annexes for Qatar to start operations at Units Four and Nine in Lebanon.
Miqati meant that starting the exploration process and oil activities in Lebanese waters will have positive effects in the short and medium term by creating opportunities for national companies interested in the service sector in the oilfield.
The chief of cabinet pointed out that the entry of Qatar Energy Company and its acquisition of 30 percent represents an important and exceptional event in the field of oil exploration and production in offshore Lebanese waters due to its prestigious position and experience worldwide.
According to Miqati, in the gas industry, operators TotalEnergies and Eni each hold 35 percent of the shares and will start drilling in block nine after completing environmental studies and contracts related to logistics activities and launching from the port of Beirut.
The consortium of companies operating in the Lebanese Sea will help boost investment in the energy sector, which is a long-term priority that the state will support with good governance and full transparency, the prime minister said.
Miqati believed that despite the difficult circumstances, the involvement of the three companies will boost confidence in investing in Lebanon and will put the country on the oil map in the Levantine Mediterranean basin.
TotalEnergies reported last December that the team in Beirut will have more than 20 employees by the end of March and that the drilling platform will already be selected in the first quarter of next year.
In mid-November, after the demarcation agreement with Israel, TotalEnergies began gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Lebanon.
On October 27, after more than two years of indirect talks, the two nations delivered the Memorandum of Understanding on the demarcation of the sea border to US mediator Amos Hochstein and United Nations representative here, Joanna Wronecka.
The Lebanese national position stressed that the country had not entered into any kind of normalization with Tel Aviv and had obtained its rights to the Qana field without sharing wealth or paying any compensation to its counterpart.
oda/yma