MEOG: Another extension for Lebanese bid round?

The Lebanese Petroleum Authority (LPA) and the country’s energy ministry are considering yet another extension to the deadline for bids in the country’s second licensing round.

The original bidding deadline was January 31, 2020 and this was extended first to April 30, then June 1 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and falling oil and gas prices. The deadline was then moved to the end of 2021, with the process relaunched in December 2021. The deadline of June 15, 2022 was missed and pushed back until December, then again to June 30 this year.

Speaking on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi’s World Utilities Congress, Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said: “We have a June deadline, and we are, in principle, open to receiving interest, and applications of interest from concerned partnerships and consortia in the gas sector.”

“But at the same time, as we get closer [to that deadline], and we are getting close now, there is a possibility that we could extend that deadline,” he added.

Fayyad noted that another extension would be the sixth, with interested parties reported to be “keen to first see the result” of exploration work in the offshore Block 9 “before they make the decision on further investments or commitments in Lebanon.”