The saga of Lebanon’s first licensing round

ENAR

At the end of 2017, politics once again threatened the completion of Lebanon’s first offshore oil and gas licensing round. More than four years ago, former Prime Minister Najib Miqati resigned the very day his cabinet was set to discuss two decrees needed to open the bid round. Those decrees finally passed in January 2017, and this year saw development after development that made it seem as though the oil and gas sector was finally a top priority for the government. However, just as the first licensing round was drawing to a close—following a positive recommendation from the Lebanese Petroleum Administration in favor of awarding licenses for Blocks 4 and 9 to a consortium made up of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni, and Russia’s Novatek, and right before one final government approval—Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 4, 2017. The Ministry of Energy and