What's delaying gas exploration in Lebanon?
Gas exploration in Lebanon has been in limbo for over two years, but with the renewed international efforts, will the file be reopened?
BEIRUT — Gas exploration in Lebanon has been frozen for more than two years, but it has now returned to the forefront of Beirut's political and media scene. It was not brought to the table by any Lebanese government or official body, but rather by Washington.
On July 2-3, the US Department of State's special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, Amos Hochstein, visited the Lebanese capital, where he met with a number of Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Tammam Salam, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian. Following these meetings, the US official made a series of press statements in which he stressed that the subject of his visit was limited to Lebanese gas, its exploration and excavation process and its current status.
A Lebanese ministerial source concerned with this issue confirmed to Al-Monitor that Hochstein’s talks focused in particular on two points. The first is the Lebanese-Israeli borders and the two countries' respective exclusive maritime zones. The second point covers the methods of dealing with gas exploration, extraction, investment and transportation in the Lebanese zone adjacent to Israel. The ministerial source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said these two points are still outstanding issues, after years of searching for a solution to settle them and following several attempts by the US official previously in charge of this issue, Frederic Hof. The source pointed out that Hof had made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to reach a settlement of the maritime boundaries issue between the two countries.
The ministerial source indicated that following Hof’s efforts, this controversial issue (the area where gas would be explored) was restricted to a maritime zone of about 900 square kilometers (347 square miles). Lebanon considers this area as falling under its maritime sovereignty, and Israel considers it a disputed area in accordance with international law.
