Cabinet Approves Executive Decrees for Oil Excavation Law

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the executive decrees for the law on oil excavation in Lebanon’s territorial waters.

The parliament endorsed the bill in August 2011.

Briefing reporters after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail, acting information minister Wael Abu Faour said: “Among the most prominent items approved by the government was the adoption of a draft decree on the oil sector commission, which includes the financial and administrative regulations and organizes employment in the sector, as recommended by the relevant panel.”

During the session, Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed “the need to tackle the domestic issues, which will not prevent the government from following up the developments outside the country.”

He also noted that “the government can only be active and responsible if it was united and harmonious and cooperative with the other constitutional authorities.”

On December 28 the ministerial committee tasked with following up the issue of oil and gas excavation referred the executive decrees prepared by the energy and water ministry to the government.

Briefing reporters after the committee’s meeting, Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil said that finalizing the decrees was a step that “highlights the seriousness of the Lebanese government and Lebanon in addressing this issue.”

“According to the studies and analyses we’re conducting and developing day after day, our oil wealth is spread across our entire exclusive economic zone and it’s not limited to a certain area and there are no disputed areas,” Bassil revealed.

“The oil wealth is located in the south, center, north, near the coast, away from the coast and in all areas,” the minister added, noting that “therefore we have several opportunities and capabilities that would allow us to easily utilize this oil wealth.”

The cabinet in September approved the proposed borders of Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean.

Also in September, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour warned the U.N. that Israel's proposed sea border threatens peace and security.

Mansour sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “rejecting geographic coordinates Israel submitted to the United Nations concerning the northern part of the waters it claims,” the foreign ministry said.

It added that the Israeli claim "infringes on Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone," a sea zone that gives a state the right to explore its maritime resources.

"This is a clear violation of Lebanon's rights ... over an area of some 860 square kilometers, and puts international peace and security at risk," it said, adding, "We urge the secretary general to take all necessary measures to avoid conflict."

Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war, locked horns over the maritime border after the discovery of potential offshore energy reserves.

The Israeli cabinet in July approved a map and submitted it to the United Nations, which has been asked to mediate the growing conflict.

The Israeli map conflicts with Lebanon's proposed borders, which give the Jewish state less territorial waters and was submitted to the United Nations last year.

Lebanon argues its map is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.

Israel has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some of which are shared with Cyprus.