QatarEnergy Will Develop Fields in Lebanon Instead of NOVATEK
The Qatari oil and gas company QatarEnergy has taken the place of Russia’s Novatek in a project to develop deposits in the exclusive economic zone of Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to a RIA Novosti correspondent, on Sunday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, a ceremony was held to sign amendments to the agreements on exploration and production at blocks 9 and 4 on the occasion of the accession of QatarEnergy as a partner to the French TotalEnergies and the Italian Eni.
The share of the Qatari oil and gas company in this project will be 30%, while TotalEnergies and Eni will each have 35%.
Acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said during the ceremony that the start of the development and production process at deposits in Lebanese waters will positively influence the creation of jobs in Lebanese service companies in the short and medium term.
In September 2022, it became known that the share of the Novatek oil and gas company in the fields of the Lebanese shelf passed to the Lebanese state after the withdrawal of Novatek Lebanon SAL from the exploration and production agreements on blocks 4 and 9. Novatek had previously worked on this project together with TotalEnergies and Eni.
At the end of October, Lebanon and Israel, which formally remain at war with each other, agreed to divide the disputed area in the Mediterranean Sea and will now be able to begin developing natural gas reserves located there.
