Lebanon: TotalEnergies Mobilizes To Explore Block 9 in 2023

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, received His Excellency Walid Fayad, Minister of Energy and Water of Lebanon, at the headquarters.

During the meeting, Patrick Pouyanné and Walid Fayad discussed the development of TotalEnergies’ activities in Lebanon, and Patrick Pouyanné confirmed that the teams in charge of drilling operations on Block 9 were now mobilized. 

To date, in addition to the Operations Manager, more than 10 people are involved in the preparation of the well. By the end of March, the team mobilized in Beirut will reach more than 20 employees. The call for tenders to secure the drilling rig has been launched and should lead to a selection of the rig in the first quarter of 2023. Pre-orders have also been placed with suppliers for equipment required for the well. In parallel, offshore resources are being mobilized to contribute to the environmental studies which will be finalized by the end of June 2023. 

All those TotalEnergies teams are working in collaboration with LPA to prepare the well in order to achieve the objective of TotalEnergies and its partner ENI to complete the drilling as soon as possible in 2023.

In November, TotalEnergies and its partner ENI signed, with the State of Israel, a Framework Agreement to implement the agreement on maritime boundary that was reached between Israel and Lebanon on October 27, 2022.

In Lebanon, TotalEnergies is the operator of the exploration Block 9, and holds a 60% interest, alongside its partner ENI (40%).

Following the signature of this Framework Agreement, the Block 9 partners will initiate the exploration of an already identified prospect which might extend both in Block 9 and into Israel waters South of the recently established Maritime Border Line.