Lebanon has short-listed 46 international oil firms for its first oil and natural gas licensing round in its Mediterranean coastal waters. 12 groups have been pre-qualified to be right-holder operators, namely Anadarko, Chevron, ExxonMobil (USA), Petrobras (Brazil), Eni (Italy), Maersk (Denmark), Repsol (Spain), Shell (Netherlands), Statoil (Norway), Total (France), Inpex (Japan) and Petronas (Malaysia). 34 companies were pre-qualified to be right holders but non operators; Suncor (Canada), Marathon Oil (US), Santos (Australia), GDF SUEZ (France), OMV (Austria), Dana Petroleum (UK), Rosneft (Russia) and Mitsui (Japan) belong to this group. Pre-qualified explorers, which will be allowed to do exploration work in waters close to Israel and Cyprus, can place their bids by 2 May 2013. Contracts should be signed in February 2014. 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.