An offshore drilling rig arrived at its location in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon’s coast and will start operations in the coming weeks to search for gas, Lebanese Cabinet ministers say.
The rig is expected to begin drilling in September in Lebanese waters near the border with Israel after the two countries reached a deal last year on their maritime border. Lebanon and Israel have formally been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948.
Cash-strapped Lebanon hopes that future gas discoveries will help the small Mideast nation pull itself out of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.
Minister of Transport Ali Hamie wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the rig arrived this morning at the location where it is scheduled to begin work. The rig faces the southern port city of Tyre.
“We hope that Lebanon will become an oil state,” Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad tells reporters in Beirut, adding that the results of the drilling are expected in two or three months.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2023
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