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Saad Andari, Second Vice-Governor of Central Bank of Lebanon, predicted that Lebanon would start exploratory offshore drilling for oil and gas by the end of 2019, which will take between three to four years, and will be conducted by a consortium led by the French Oil Giant “Total”.
In May, Lebanese authorities approved an exploration plan submitted by a consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek, to determine the existence of oil and gas.
"Lebanon, with its limited resources, cannot rely on agriculture or industry to grow, but needs a knowledge-based Economy with investments in areas including Information Technology," he said. "The Economy is growing between 1 and 3 percent, but carries the burden of 1.5 million displaced Syrians without significant international assistance, which caused tensions in the Labor Market as Lebanese themselves suffer from increasing unemployment rates.”

Source: (Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper, Edited)