The Petroleum Register Decree (Decree no. 9471 dated 24 June 2022) has been published in the Official Gazette (Issue no. 28 dated 30 June 2022).
This Decree regulates the procedures to register Registrable Petroleum Rights, Mortgage and Transfer of Petroleum Rights in the Petroleum Register.

Any Exclusive Petroleum Right or Facility License and Participation Interest in both rights shall be, pursuant to the provisions of this Decree, registered in the Petroleum Register with disclosure of Beneficial Owner, Politically Exposed Person and Executive of the holders of those rights.

The information contained in the Petroleum Register shall be publicly available.

Click here to download The Petroleum Register Decree.

The Minister of Energy and Water issued on 15 June 2022, a decision extending the deadline for the submission of Lebanon's Second Offshore Licensing Round Applications till 15 December 2022. Click here to download the Minister's decision.

On 20 June 2022, the Minister issued Decision no. 8 D/M dated 20 June 2022 that determines some of the procedures related to the submission of applications in particularly the procedures for paying the retrieval fee. Click here to download the Minister’s Decision.

Two new Decrees related to the Lebanese oil and gas sector have been published in the Lebanese Official Gazette (Issues no 21 dated 12 May 2022 and no. 22 dated 19 May 2022).
The first one is Decree no. 9094 dated 29 April 2022 which amended article 26 of Decree no. 10289/2013 related to the retrieval fee that was discounted from /50,000/ USD to /5000/ USD.
The second one is Decree no. 9095 dated 29 April 2022 which amended the Tender Protocol for prequalification of applicants and the award of Exploration and Production Agreements for the participation in the Second Offshore Licensing Round. This decree also amended several articles and annexes of the Exploration and Production Model Agreement.
The new Tender Protocol covers provisions for the online submission of applications by oil and gas companies willing to participate in this bid round.
The Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) will publish on its website, as soon as possible, the integral text of the Exploration and Production Model Agreement and its Annexes issued by Decree no. 43/2017 and as was amended by Decree 4918/2019 and Decree no. 9095/2022.

Click here to download Decree no. 9094 | Click here to download Decree no. 9095

The Decree no. 6437/2020 (allowing applicants to submit applications of the second offshore licensing round online, was cancelled by Decree no. 9095/2022 and the provisions of the canceled Decree have been added to the provisions of the new Tender Protocol issued by decree 9095/2022.

To review the online submission procedures, kindly refer to Article 9.9 of the new Tender Protocol and to its Exhibits no. 9 and 10.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the Exploration and Production Activities Offshore Lebanon was undertaken in compliance with the requirements of Law 132/2010 (Offshore Petroleum Resources Law) and the Decree 8213/2012 (Strategic Environmental Assessment). This SEA succeeds the first Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) undertaken in 2012. 

The SEA strategically assesses the social, environmental and economic impacts, both positive and negative, potentially related to the offshore oil and gas activities, and more importantly, provides a comprehensive management framework for the mitigation of these impacts and the monitoring of performance against a holistic set of indicators based on the SDGs. Recommendations of this study provide further guidance for the development of the oil and gas sector, mainly from an environmental point of view addressing data collection, block opening, mainstreaming of impact assessments, development options and environmental management. 

The SEA clarifies the environmental and social context for offshore oil and gas and aims to reduce risks and liabilities and enhance competition and visibility for International Oil Companies (IOCs). On the other hand, it defines responsibilities on the various relevant government entities besides the International Oil Companies to ensure an integrative approach to implementation. 

This SEA was conducted by the Lebanese Petroleum Administration and the Ministry of Energy and Water under the framework of the European Union (EU) financed PROMARE Technical Assistance Project (“Technical assistance to support the Government of Lebanon's preparation of exploiting and producing offshore oil and gas resources“).

1- Cover page

2- Non Technical Summary - English

3- Non Technical Summary - Arabic

4- SEA E&P Lebanon Volume 1  SEA Report

• 4a- SEA E&P Volume 1 Appendices A, B, C & D
• 4b- SEA E&P Volume 1 Appendices E & F

5 - SEA E&P Lebanon Volume  2  Baseline Conditions

6 - SEA E&P Lebanon Volume  3 Legal

7 - SEA E&P Lebanon Volume  4 Stakeholder Engagement

8- MOE Approval Letter

The Ministry of Energy and Water issued a statement in which it pointed out that “there is a fake site on the Internet in the name of the Ministry which claims to be the official website of the Ministry and invites citizens to download applications to fill out job opportunities at the Lebanese Petroleum Administration”. The Ministry of Energy and Water calls upon citizens “not to download any personal files on the fake website so to preserve privacy of information”.  The official website of the Ministry of Energy and Water is the following: www.energyandwater.gov.lb 

The Lebanese Petroleum Administration publishes the list of goods allocated for petroleum activities and exempted from custom duties and value added tax (VAT) together with the required procedures to grant exemption

 Click here to download the decision and list of goods.