Lebanon has decided to delay its first auction of oil and gas exploration licences from 4 November to 10 December 2013 at the earliest, as the government failed to vote on decrees required to start the bidding process. The auction could be postponed again if the cabinet fails to adopt the decree by 2 October 2013. If the decree is voted, the first contracts could be signed in March 2013.
Lebanon had short-listed 46 international oil firms for its first oil and natural gas licensing round in its Mediterranean coastal waters and 12 groups were pre-qualified to be right-holder operators, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Eni, Repsol, Shell, Statoil, Total or Petronas. Another 34 companies are pre-qualified as non-operators. Ten blocks are available for exploration.
Offshore gas reserves in Lebanon have been estimated at more than 25 tcf (over 700 bcm), greater than the gas discovery in Cyprus and Syria combined.