Berri Says Cabinet ‘Killing Time,’ Calls for Mobilization to Preserve Oil Resources
Speaker Nabih Berri has found no reason in postponing Thursday’s cabinet session and reiterated that he would hold the government accountable if it continues to procrastinate on decisions linked to oil exploration.
There was no justification in postponing the session “amid the circumstances and the strikes carried out by more than one sector,” An Nahar daily on Saturday quoted Berri as saying.
The newspaper also said that the speaker is pressuring the government to finalize the bills on oil exploration and work on delineating the maritime border with Israel to preserve Lebanon’s oil and gas resources.
Berri told his visitors that the government is “killing time and it should set a special cabinet session to discuss” the oil issue.
“I made a huge progress in this file and the government should follow-up the mission,” he stressed.
The speaker also hinted that he would let parliament hold the cabinet accountable if it doesn’t take new measures next week “because Lebanon’s sovereignty on its maritime border and the preservation of its oil resources … impose a mobilization by everyone.”
Parliament passed a law in 2010 authorizing exploration and drilling of offshore oil and gas fields but the government is procrastinating in establishing an administrative state oil body, which is holding up plans to launch tenders for oil exploration.
Lebanon has asked the United Nations to intervene to prevent a conflict with Israel over exploration areas because it claims that some Israeli fields stretch into its waters.
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