2023-08-16 20:53:46
TotalEnergies announced on Wednesday August 16 the arrival of a platform off the Lebanese coast to begin drilling exploration wells at the end of the month, on the maritime border with Israel. The two countries, technically in a state of war, had signed an agreement in October 2022 delimiting their maritime border after a long American mediation.
The French hydrocarbon giant, its Italian partner ENI and Qatar Energy announced in May that they had signed a contract with Transocean Barents to use the drilling rig. In a press release, TotalEnergies announced “the arrival of the drilling rig (…) on Block 9, approximately 120 km off the coast of Beirut”. The latter allows Lebanon to begin exploration of the potential Cana field, part of which is located in Israeli territorial waters, in return for the payment to the Israeli State of compensation by the operating firm.
A first helicopter responsible for transporting the teams to this device also arrived at Beirut airport, according to the French company. “The arrival of these rigs marks an important step in the preparation for the drilling of the exploration well on Block 9, which will begin towards the end of August 2023,” the statement said.
The results “known in two or three months”
“A new page is being written today. When the crew and logistics are ready within a few days, the drilling will begin,” Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad said on Wednesday on the sidelines of his operational visit to the helipad. The results of the drilling will be known in two or three months, he added.
TotalEnergies had announced at the start of the year that the exploration process for Cana should be completed by the end of the year, at the end of a difficult process which should cost approximately 100 million dollars (i.e. nearly 92 millions of euros). The Lebanese authorities rely on the presence of natural resources to face the economic crisis triggered in 2019, qualified by the World Bank as one of the worst crises of modern times.
Analysts agree, however, that it will take several years for Beirut to begin the exploitation phase in the event of the discovery of a sufficient quantity of gas to ensure profitability.
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