Page 10 - MEOG Week 24 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Potential border breakthrough

as Lebanon extends bid round

ISRAEL/LEBANON A breakthrough in a long-running maritime said the consortium would seek to drill as far
dispute between Israel and Lebanon may be on from the offending area as possible, but work in
the cards following the proposal of a potential the licence remains suspended.
compromise by Beirut’s negotiating team. Hochstein said that the new proposal would
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Petroleum Admin- “enable the negotiations to go forward.”
istration (LPA) has extended the deadline for the Any agreement would come as a welcome
country’s second licensing round until the end reprieve to Beirut, which this week pushed back
of the year. the bidding deadline for the second offshore
Following the arrival of US envoy Amos licensing round from June 15 to December 15.
Hochstein in Beirut, the Lebanese side said they The original bidding deadline was January 31,
would no longer pursue a claim for the Karish 2020 and this was extended first to April 30, then
gas field providing an agreement is reached that June 1 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-
gives it full control of the Qana deposit, which demic and falling oil and gas prices. The dead-
while not proven to hold commercial quantities, line was then moved to the end of 2021, with the
appears to be a larger asset. process relaunched in December with a view to
The majority of Qana is located in waters rec- closing this month.
ognised as Lebanese by the US-backed ‘Hof Line’ The government said that it had extended the
proposal of 2012, and forms part of the Block 9 auction “based on the recommendation of the
concession. Not much is known about Qana. LPA.” It added that the delay was “necessary to
Mona Sukkarieh, energy and political risk allow additional companies not currently oper-
consultant at Middle East Strategic Perspectives, ating in the Lebanese offshore to prepare their
said: “Unlike the rest of the Lebanese [Exclu- files and studies and participate in the second
sive Economic Zone (EEZ)], the border area licensing round, thus allowing an acceptable
isn’t extensively covered by 3D surveys […] the level of competition among international oil and
Qana prospect happens to be located in the only gas companies.”
spot on the border covered by 3D surveys. If we Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG) understands
extend the coverage, will we find additional pros- that that no bids were submitted, which should
pects? It’s possible.” perhaps come as little surprise given the coun-
Block 9 was awarded to a consortium of try’s ongoing political and economic woes in
TotalEnergies (40%) and Eni (40%) and Russia’s addition to the maritime border dispute.
Novatek (20%) in 2018 along with Block 4 to the The second bid round comprises blocks 1, 2,
north-east. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10. Blocks 1, 8 and 10 were those
The group drilled their first well in Block 4 not awarded in the first round between February
in early 2020 but reported that no commercial and November 2017, while blocks 2 and 5 were
discovery had been made. With around 7-9% of added to the final cabinet-approved list later,
Block 9 overlapping with a triangle of territory with blocks 3, 6 and 7 added in late 2021.
disputed with Israel, which condemned any The Lebanese EEZ is delineated into 10 con-
efforts to explore the concession, TotalEnergies cession areas.™

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