Lebanon's timeline

By G_esber
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    Lebanon's history

  • First Lebanese oil and gas exploration focusing on onshore developments

  • Several onshore wells drilled across the country

  • Civil war breaks out, ending all development

  • War ends, with Damascus and Beirut forming “Committee of Cooperation between Lebanon and Syria for Oil Exploration in Lebanon

  • Lebanese government switches to focusing on offshore oil and gas reserves, abandoning proposals for further onshore drills

  • Government agrees contract with Spectrum Geo to carry out two-dimensional seismic surveys of offshore resources

  • Norwegian survey company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) wins contract to perform three-dimensional surveys

  • Lebanon and Cyprus sign an agreement demarcating the maritime border between the two countries

  • US energy giant Noble announces the discovery of the Tamar gas field off Israel's coast

  • Lebanese Parliament passes Offshore Petroleum Resources Law (OPRL)

  • Lebanon submits proposed maritime border with Israel to the United Nations. Israel disputes the proposal

  • Cyprus and Israel reach an agreement on their Exclusive Economic Zones

  • Noble confirms the existence of a major gas field — called Leviathan — off the coast of Israel. It is estimated to have at least 16 trillion cubic feet of gas at a likely market value of tens of billions of dollars

  • Cyprus confirms discovery of gas in the Aphrodite field off its coastline

  • Lebanese Council of Ministers (cabinet) finally ratifies OPRL, meaning it comes into effect

  • Government deadline for forming Petroleum Administration — a body to negotiate oil contracts — passes without the appointments being agreed upon

  • Lebanon's Petroleum Administration finally formed but questions asked about level of independence

  • Israel approves oil excavation in the Golan Heights, an area disputed with Syria

  • The names of 52 companies that had applied for Lebanon’s oil and gas announced

  • The names of 46 companies who had successfully pre-qualified announced

  • Israel and Cyprus agree a memorandum of understanding to establish a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Cyprus

    As Lebanon and Israel are technically at war, if such a deal were to be ratified it would undermine the chances of Lebanon being able to use Cyprus’s LNG plant

  • Israel, Cyprus and Greece sign a deal to cooperate over energy, further increasing Lebanon’s isolation