LNG – Lebanese No Go?

One impact a serious delay to Lebanon’s oil and gas bids may have is to exacerbate a trend of the country falling behind its regional neighbors. In the early stages, something of a tug-of-war occurred between Israel and Lebanon, with both sides trying to attract Cyprus to establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with them. Related article: How political bickering in endangering Lebanon’s oil and gas future While Israel’s better organization was perhaps always likely to lure Nicosia, it now appears that any hopes of a Lebanese-Cypriot deal have faded. In August Cyprus, Israel and Greece signed a deal to cooperate on energy policy, just two months after Cyprus had agreed a memorandum of understanding to establish a LNG plant with two Israeli firms and US-based Noble Energy, which works extensively in Israel. It is unlikely that Lebanon will have enough hydrocarbons to make establishing its own LNG plant