President of Lebanon Michel Aoun announced that his country will begin oil exploration in November, Daily Sabah reported.

Lebanon aims at restoring investors’ confidence in order to be able to attract more investments and raise energy production. Moreover, Lebanese offshore reserves are estimated at 96 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas and around 865 million barrels of crude oil.

The Lebanese government wants to benefit from its natural resources to meet the local power demand, and boost the economy, amidst an increase in public debt that exceeded 150% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of last year.