The Lebanese Council of Ministers approved the license clause for oil exploration, which approved the granting of two licenses for exploration and production of oil in two spots 4 and 9 to the coalition of the companies “Total” from France and “Novatek” from Russia and “Eni” from Italy, this made Lebanon take its first step to enter the club of oil producing countries.
The Minister of Energy and Water, Cesar Abi Khalil, is expected to sign the contracts with the Oil Companies Coalition along with paying the guarantees in a period not exceeding one month, followed by the companies submitting the exploration plan. Knowing that the drilling of the oil wells will begin in early 2019.
In this context, the Lebanese Minister of Energy and Water, Cesar Abi Khalil, congratulated the Lebanese people on the approval of the oil clause and the entry of Lebanon into the Club of Petroleum Countries pointing out that “the beginning of drilling of oil wells will be in the beginning of 2019 to see the possibility of developing the field.” He also said that “We had a bidding and a licensing session and the results and fees were cleared and the conclusion was in the cabinet and the technical and financial proposals were evaluated and there was an improvement of the terms."