Bassil Calls on Cabinet to Swiftly Approve Appointment of Oil Authority Members

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil expressed hope on Monday that the cabinet would swiftly approve the appointment of the personnel in the vacant posts in the oil authority.

“We should prepare for the second stage of process by issuing tenders for foreign companies to kick off oil exploration along Lebanese offshores,” Bassil told An Nahar newspaper.

He ruled out that the cabinet would face obstacles in selecting the names of the 18 candidates, who will distributed on 6 posts.

“Their selection was based on the efficiency, the sectarian and political distribution, which would facilitate the process to find consensus on the names,” Bassil added.

In March, the cabinet approved the appointment of the six members of the authority tasked with administrating the oil sector.

Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves there could generate billions of dollars.

Lebanon has been slow to exploit its maritime resources compared with other eastern Mediterranean countries. Israel, Cyprus and Turkey are all much more advanced in drilling for oil and gas.