Cabinet Convenes Tuesday in Final Meeting this Year

W460

Lebanon's Cabinet will hold the last session this year in a special meeting on Tuesday at the Grand Serail to discuss agenda items pending since its previous meeting Thursday that approved licenses for oil drilling.

Ministerial sources said the Cabinet will tackle “noncontroversial” issues and will look into 67 items most of which "not related to administrative appointments at the ministry of information and the state-owned television TeleLiban."

As the country hopes to find resources to shore up its indebted economy, the Cabinet on Thursday approved granting licenses for oil exploration and excavation in the offshore blocks 5 and 9.

Block 5 lies off Lebanon's northern coast while block 9 lies off Lebanon's southern coast.

Earlier this decade, geologists discovered a bonanza of gas reserves off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel, sparking a frenzy of development on the Israeli side to tap into the fields.

Lebanon's successive governments, beset by infighting and corruption, made only marginal progress toward that goal. In January, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil described the government's approval of the executive decrees for offshore oil and gas excavation as the government's “first achievement.”

A portion of the reserves lies in territory disputed by the two countries.

Hizbullah has repeatedly warned Israel against tapping into Lebanon's gas reserves.

SourceNaharnet
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