Lebanon’s acting energy minister Gebran Bassil has announced that 52 firms from 25 countries have submitted applications for the pre-qualifying round for the country’s offshore oil and gas.
Included amongst the bidders are major oil firms including Total, Shell, Statoil and Exxon Mobile, as well as Middle Eastern companies from Iran, Kuwait and the UAE.
The firms, if successful, will eventually form consortiums of three joint venture companies, but they are to be assessed individually on legal, financial, technical, and health and safety criteria.
The results of the applications will be announced next month, Bassil said. There will then be a six-month period of negotiation for companies to prepare their bids, with contracts expected to be signed early next year. However, no agreements can be formally agreed until a new government is formed.
Bassil said the bids were a "sign of faith" in Lebanon and added another 200 companies had withdrawn from the application process because of the tough conditions imposed by Lebanon. "Most of the major oil companies in the world, from all regions, have have put in submissions and this is surely a sign of faith and trust in Lebanon," he said.
The full list of companies and their country of origin is as follows:
Australia
Santos
Brazil
Petrobas
Austria
OMV
Canada
Suncor
China
CNOOC
Croatia
INA
Denmark
Maersk
France
GDF Suez
Total
Hungary
MOL Group E&P
Italy
ENI International
Edison International
India
Cairn India
ONGC
Iran
National Iranian Drilling Company
Ireland
Circle Oil PLC
Petroceltic
Japan
INPEX
JAPEX
JX Nippon
Mitsui
Kuwait
KUFPEC
Lebanon
CC Energy
Malaysia
Petronas
Netherlands
Shell E&P
Norway
Statoil
Russia
Lukoil
Novatec/GPB Global Resources
Rosneft
South Korea
KNOC
KOGAS
Spain
Repsol
Thailand
PTTEP
Turkey
TPAO Turkish Petroleum
Genel Energy
UAE
Crescent/Apex Gas
Crescent Petroleum
Dana Gas
Dragon Oil
MOISSS
Mubadala
UK
Cairn Energy
Dana Petroleum
Heritage Oil
Ophir
SOCO
USA
Andarkor
Chevron
Exxon Mobile
GeoPark/Petroleb
Levantine Exploration
Marathon
