Offshore drilling rig arrives in Lebanese waters ahead of work near Israel border

BEIRUT –

An offshore drilling rig arrived at its location within the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon’s coast and can begin operations within the coming weeks to seek for fuel, Lebanese Cabinet ministers mentioned Wednesday.

The rig is anticipated to start drilling in September in Lebanese waters close to the border with Israel after the 2 international locations reached a deal final 12 months on their maritime border. Lebanon and Israel have formally been at battle since Israel’s creation in 1948.

Cash-strapped Lebanon hopes that future fuel discoveries will assist the small Mideast nation pull itself out of the worst financial and monetary disaster in its trendy historical past.

Minister of Transport Ali Hamie wrote on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter, that the rig arrived Wednesday morning on the location the place it’s scheduled to start work. The rig faces the southern port metropolis of Tyre.

“We hope that Lebanon will become an oil state,” Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad advised reporters in Beirut, including that the outcomes of the drilling are anticipated in two or three months.

In 2017, Lebanon accepted licenses for a world consortium together with France’s TotalEnergies, Italy’s ENI and Russia’s Novatek to maneuver ahead with offshore oil and fuel improvement for 2 of 10 blocks within the Mediterranean. The borders of one of many two blocks have been disputed by neighbouring Israel till the maritime border deal was reached final 12 months.

In January, Lebanon, ENI, TotalEnergies and state-owned oil and fuel firm Qatar Energy signed an settlement during which the Qatari agency changed Novatek. Under the deal signed in January, Qatar Energy will take Novatek’s 20% stake along with 5% every from ENI and Total, leaving the Arab firm with a complete stake of 30%. Total and ENI will every have 35% stakes.

Under the U.S.-mediated deal between Lebanon and Israel that was signed in October, the disputed waters can be divided alongside a line straddling the “Qana” pure fuel area within the Mediterranean. Total mentioned fuel manufacturing can be based mostly on the Lebanese facet, however Israel can be compensated for fuel extracted from its facet of the road beneath a individually signed deal between Total and Israel.