Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister, Nada Boustani, gave oil major Total the permit to drill the first exploratory well in offshore Block 4, local news outlet The Daily Star reported. The drilling ship, which is currently in Egypt, is expected to arrive in Lebanon in January 2020.
“The launch and the handing over of the permit to drill the first exploratory well in Block 4 to the consortium of Total, Eni and Novatek is the first executive step in the discovery [of potential offshore oil and gas reserves],” Boustani said in a televised news conference, as quoted by The Daily Star.
A consortium of Total, Eni, and Novatek signed exploration and production agreements in February 2018 for Blocks 4 and 9.
