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 Minister of Energy and Water issued the following statement: 

Tomorrow, June 1st, is the deadline to submit applications for the Second Offshore Licensing Round for the award of exclusive petroleum rights in the Lebanese maritime waters, which was previously postponed due to the paralysis affecting international oil and gas companies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As this pandemic continues to spread around the world, it is leaving devastating effects on the petroleum sector from low demand for oil and gas products to a sharp decline in hydrocarbons prices.

While the Covid-19 pandemic affected the financial and logistical capacities of petroleum exploring companies, the decline in oil and gas prices led companies to lower their investments and to hold off exploration activities. Many countries have either postponed or put on hold their licensing rounds, which they had launched before the pandemic.

Since the Cabinet approved the launch of the Second Offshore Licensing Round, the MInistry of Energy and Water and the Lebanese Petroleum Administration worked on the marketing of this round and communicated with companies that expressed interest in taking part in it, including answering questions and providing clarifications about the procedure with which to submit applications. Additionally, the Cabinet had recently approved a draft decree allowing companies to securely submit applications for the Second Offshore Licensing Round through the Internet.

As the conditions which we described above are still ongoing, it was necessary to momentary postpone the deadline for the submission of applications to participate in the Second Offshore Licensing Round to a later date which will be determined by a decision that the Minister of Energy and Water will issue based on the recommendation of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, in the objective to complete the Second Offshore Licensing Round before the end of the year 2021.

Meanwhile, in light of these changes, the global oil and gas market will be reassessed, the companies' interest will be evaluated through direct communication, and the Second Offshore Licensing Round's general framework will be studied while considering the inclusion of any amendments deemed necessary for the rules of participation in this round so to keep pace with the new global situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Potential amendments will be presented to the Council of Ministers for approval.

Click here to download the Minister's Decision regarding the postponement. 

On the 13th of May 2020 the Council of Ministers approved a draft decree aimed at amending some articles of the Tender Protocol (Annex 1) of Decree No. 4918 dated 31/5/2019  (Amendment of some of the articles and annexes of Decree No. 43 dated 1/1/2017; Tender Protocol related to the offshore licensing round, and the Model Exploration and Production Agreement) and the adoption of the procedures compatible with this amendment. 

This amendment allows applicants to submit the applications of the second offshore licensing round online according to the technical procedures specified in the Tender Protocol. 

Click here to download Decree No. 6437 dated 5/6/2020 in relation with the above mentioned amendment.  

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 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.