Report: Ain el-Tineh Sends Indirect Message to Salam Accusing Him of Blocking Oil File
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil decided to refrain from participation in an official delegation that will be accompanying PM Tammam Salam to a summit in Mauritania, in what seems to be a reaction to Salam's stances with regard to Lebanon's offshore oil and gas file, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.
A message has been conveyed from Ain el-Tineh to Msaytbeh that expressed resentment at Salam's stances and “obstruction” regarding the file. It reflected the reluctance of Khalil from participating in the official delegation accompanying the PM to Mauritania next week, said the daily.
Sources close to Salam said they were astonished that the PM is being “blamed for the obstruction.” They told the daily that Salam is eager to put the file into implementation, but it is unacceptable that parties fail to brief him on the agreement.
Salam has announced Monday that he will not convene the oil ministerial committee before gathering “all the data” about the issue of offshore oil and gas exploration, noting that the file requires “high readiness on all levels.”
He also criticized the fact that he was not briefed on the agreement reached between the Free Patriotic Movement and the AMAL party in Ain el-Tineh, and that he only knew about it from the press.
The oil file was activated after the FPM, represented by Minister Jebran Bassil, and AMAL officials including Khalil met in Speaker Nabih Berri's residence in Ain al-Tineh and announced that they have settled their disputes over the excavation of Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas reserves.
The disagreement between the two parties has hindered agreements on energy extraction for years.
Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves that 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.
In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 34.5 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus.
In August 2014, the government postponed for the fifth time the first round of licensing for gas exploration over a political dispute.
The disagreements were over the designation of blocks open for bidding and the terms of a draft exploration agreement.
Lebanese officials have continuously warned that Israel's exploration of new offshore gas fields near Lebanese territorial waters means that Israel is siphoning some of Lebanon's crude oil.
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