Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Drilling to begin on Lebanon’s block 9

By Shruthi Nair, Pramod Kumar

Exploratory drilling in Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas block 9 will commence on Thursday of this week, caretaker energy minister Walid Fayad has said.

“On August 24 the drilling process will begin, and it will be a historic day,” the state-owned National News Agency reported, citing the minister.

“After 67 days, we will know the results of this drilling. We hope it will bring good things for the Lebanese,” he said after meeting top executives of France’s TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies signed a three-way consortium deal with state-owned QatarEnergy and Italy’s oil major Eni to explore for oil and gas in two maritime blocks off the coast of Lebanon, known as blocks 4 and 9.

Following months of talks, QatarEnergy has taken a 30 percent stake in the consortium, leaving TotalEnergies and Eni with 35 percent each.

“TotalEnergies and its partners are fully committed to professional work, and the expectations so far have been extremely positive,” Fayad noted.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in January that the consortium was keen to start work on block 9 “as soon as possible” with well drilling beginning in the third quarter of 2023.

Lebanon hopes oil discoveries will help its moribund economy rebound. In February the government devalued the Lebanese currency by 90 percent and foreign currency reserves are depleting.

Latest articles

Alcohol tax in Dubai was suspended in 2023

Dubai to reintroduce 30% alcohol tax

Dubai will reintroduce the 30 percent sales tax on alcohol in January, according to an email sent by a local alcohol distributor to venues in the city.  The correspondence sent by MMI, which also operates off licences in the city, said: “Please note, Dubai Government have informed us the 30 percent municipality tax on alcoholic […]

EDB food wheat farm sharjah

EDB hails $305m in financing for agriculture businesses

One dirham in 12 lent by Emirates Development Bank in the past three years has gone into financing for agriculture technology and food production businesses, the bank said on Thursday. EDB said the AED1.12 billion ($305 million) of loans represent 8 percent of the AED14.72 billion of financing it has provided since April 2021.  It […]

Animal, Bird, Chicken

Almarai to foray into food segments beyond dairy

Almarai, the largest dairy producer in Saudi Arabia, will launch seafood and red meat facilities to help achieve the Vision 2030 goal of becoming food self-reliant. The company is building domestic production facilities for seafood and beef and lamb, which will become operational in two years, Bloomberg reported, citing CEO Abdullah Albader. In March, Almarai […]

Turkish arms exports

Turkish arms exports up 19% year on year

Turkish defence companies have posted another record-breaking year for exports, with a 19 percent increase year on year and sales to 178 countries. Sales from January to November this year have already eclipsed 2023’s total of arms and equipment shipments to overseas clients, reflecting the arms industry’s technical developments and broader product range.  Defence and […]