‘We are being open and transparent’

ENAR

Gebran Bassil became Lebanon’s minister of energy and water in 2011. Since then, the country has made huge strides toward extracting its offshore oil and gas, but last month those bids suffered their first delays since international oil companies became involved. Executive sat down with him to discuss how he plans to get the bids moving again. With regard to the delay in the oil and gas bids, are you seeing politicians wanting it to happen? Some people want it to happen, others are simply apathetic. Some others are not helping, others are obstructing. We need to have a council of ministers, which is the responsibility of the president and of the prime minister. It can happen in two minutes by convening the council of ministers  — the decrees are there, they have been ready for a few months, we have the approval of the Shura [Council]. It is a