Lebanon's Energy Minister Welcomes US as a 'Real Player'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Gebran Bassil, Lebanon's minister of energy and water, said he welcomes US involvement in the emerging energy opportunities in Lebanon and hopes the US will decide to become a "real player" in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Seismic surveys off Lebanon's southern coast suggest discoveries of up to 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Bassil, 42, who is in Washington to meet with US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and other US officials, told Al-Monitor's Andrew Parasiliti that American companies are already among those who have invested in the discoveries by acquiring data. He expected that the tender process would begin by year's end. Bassil described the offshore gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean region as a force for stability, rather than friction, among Lebanon and its neighbors. He said that Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean could provide an energy alternative beyond the Gulf region.

He also described a role for Lebanon in the export and refining of Iraqi oil, saying that "the easiest, the fastest, as it exists right now, and the real window for the Iraqi oil is through that [Iraq-Lebanon oil] pipeline." Asked about the management of the expected resources from the discoveries into an economic development plan, Bassil said this is already being planned per Lebanese law and that Lebanon will establish a "sovereign fund to keep the revenues for the future generations."