The TransOcean Barents drilling rig arrived in Lebanon’s Block 9 on Wednesday to begin exploration activities, Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamie, posted on X, following a landmark US-brokered agreement last year that delineated the contentious maritime border between Lebanon and Israel to the south.
The consortium drilling in Block 9 is led by France’s TotalEnergies and includes Italian oil giant ENI and state-owned QatarEnergy.
Lebanon’s energy minister Walid Fayad said in May that he expected to know whether there would be a discovery there by the end of the year.
ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi said in January that he was “positive” about a discovery there.
Lebanon hopes gas and oil discoveries will help it reverse a crippling economic crisis that has cost the local currency more than 98% of its value, eroded the country's foreign reserves and caused rolling blackouts across towns and cities.
The drilling became possible after the United States mediated a deal that set a maritime border between Lebanese and Israeli waters for the first time.
A mechanism for the consortium to exploit possible discoveries that extend south from Block 9 past that border was also established. That exploitation would be done on behalf of Lebanon but with a royalties system set up for Israel.
