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The path to petroleum  As the formation of a new government run by the former opposition draws ever nearer, some of the next government’s priorities are starting to take shape. Last month parliament speaker Nabih Berri said to As-Safir that “of course” oil and gas exploration would be amongst the cabinet’s priorities. “Oil exploration is the victim of the current political vacuum,” he said. Berri’s political ally and current caretaker Minister of Energy and Water Gebran Bassil also weighed in last month at a press conference where he announced that the ministry had signed a contract with the French consulting firm Beicip-Franlab to prepare for an eventual oil and gas exploration tender. The consulting firm will work with the Norwegian government and a Norwegian oil firm, PGS (which has conducted several three-dimensional seismic surveys in Lebanon’s offshore area) to finalize nearly 30 implementation decrees, of which 17 are needed before