Lebanon on 26 December launched its third offshore bid round, putting on offer nine blocks comprising all of its currently-unawarded offshore acreage as it makes another attempt to lure energy firms to its upstream. A consortium led by French major TotalEnergies (35%), partnered with Italy’s Eni (35%) and QatarEnergy (30%) currently holds the only licensed acreage, Block 9, where recent drilling of the highly anticipated Qana prospect proved unsuccessful (MEES, 20 October 2023).
The same consortium also previously held Block 4 further north, drilling the Byblos-1 duster in 2020 before relinquishing the acreage last year. Total and its partners and are also currently in talks to take Blocks 8 and 10, situated along the maritime border with Israel, following the closure of Lebanon’s previous bid round on 2 October (MEES, 6 October 2023). Though the consortium officially tabled a bid for the two blocks, with Hamas’ 7 October assault on Israel coming just days after bidding closed, and Israel-Lebanon tensions having risen massively since, Total and its partners are likely in no hurry to finalize terms. (CONTINUED - 658 WORDS)
