Lebanon Aware of Mediterranean Gas Fields Since 1969, U.S. Warships Studied them in 2009
The Lebanese government has been aware of the gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea since 1969, reveal al-Balad French on Wednesday.
A source close to the White House said that the United States also knew of them.
“Washington wanted to keep this matter from the Lebanese government due to the regional situation, especially because Israel was incapable of extracting the gas at the time because it was caught up in a war,” it stated.
Trusted sources added that American warships that had headed to the Mediterranean after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash in January 2010 had studied the area of the gas fields.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Public Works, Transportation, Energy and Water Commission chief MP Mohammed Qabbani revealed that the studies conducted by the Ministry of Energy in the 1960s have disappeared, adding that the government at the time had estimated that such fields do exist.
The head of the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies Maroun Shammas said that the Lebanese government will be able to drill for the gas in 6-9 years, while Israel has already started drilling.
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