Lebanon’s second licensing round

Preparations for the launching of Lebanon’s second offshore oil and gas licensing round have begun. The regulator, the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA), has published a tentative timeline for the tender, which will be officially launched at the end of 2018. The process, including the pre-qualification phase, will extend over a period of one year. The second licensing round is scheduled to start in January 2019 with the opening of the pre-qualification round. The legal, technical, commercial, and QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety & Environment) criteria might differ from those imposed during the country’s first offshore licensing round in 2013. Given that the initial criteria were deemed too strict at the end of the first bid round, we might see some loosening of regulations. According to the 2010 Offshore Petroleum Resources Law, interested companies need to pre-qualify, either as operators or non-operators, to be eligible to place bids when the tender opens.