Egypt is working to speed up coordination for the arrival of Egyptian natural gas to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria as Egypt is keen on easing the burdens of the Lebanese people.

The Iraqi Minister of finance, Ali Allawi, has signed an agreement with the Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water, Raymond Ghajar, to supply Lebanon with fuel of 1 million tons per year from the surplus of its refineries.

Director General of the Lebanese Public Security, Abbas Ibrahim, stated that technical teams from Iraq and Lebanon are going into discussions about the technical details of the imported oil material from Iraq to Lebanon.

The Caretaker Minister of Energy and Water, Raymond Ghajar, stated that the consortium made up of Total, Eni and Novatech Companies, is continuing its oil activities in Lebanon under the leadership of the operating company, Total, especially in implementing the amended law 160/2020 (suspension of deadlines) with the first exploration period being extended in Blocks 4 and 9 of Lebanese territorial waters until August 13, 2022.

Iraq will begin exporting fuel to Lebanon in 2021 using global prices, Iraqi Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, stated.

Preliminary drilling results in Lebanon’s Block 4 came back negative for the existence of a gas reservoir.

Lebanon is going to commence drilling activities for hydrocarbons in its waters within the last week of February, according to the Lebanese Agriculture and Culture Minister, Abbas Mortada.

Nada Boustani, Lebanon’s Energy Minister, announced on January 13 that the deadline for submitting the applications in the second licensing round for oil and gas exploration has been extended.

Total, which is part of a consortium consisting of Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek, plans to start exploring for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean waters offshore Lebanon.

Lebanon’s fuel bid was hold up by one week on December 9, to get more competition and consequently the better prices after two companies had proposed their offers, according to Reuters.