عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration Equipment Arrives in Beirut

Energy Minister Nada Boustani inspects Total's oil and gas exploration equipment at Beirut port. (Dalati & Nohra)
Energy Minister Nada Boustani inspects Total's oil and gas exploration equipment at Beirut port. (Dalati & Nohra)
TT
TT

Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration Equipment Arrives in Beirut

Energy Minister Nada Boustani inspects Total's oil and gas exploration equipment at Beirut port. (Dalati & Nohra)
Energy Minister Nada Boustani inspects Total's oil and gas exploration equipment at Beirut port. (Dalati & Nohra)

Equipment to explore for offshore oil and gas from the Total company has arrived in Lebanon.

Caretaker Energy Minister Nada al-Boustani inspected the equipment at Beirut port on Saturday.

Total will kick off exploration in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone once it completes its operations in Egypt.

Boustani revealed that a ship with more equipment is set to arrive in Beirut on Sunday.

In 2018, February, Lebanon signed its first offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreements with the Total-Eni-Novatek consortium for offshore Blocks 4 and 9.

Former Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil had previously said exploration in Block 4 would start in 2019, while exploration in Block 9 would begin on the southern maritime border in 2020 after the final well is determined.

Lebanon has an unresolved maritime border dispute with Israel over a triangular area of sea of around 860 sq km (330 square miles) that extends along the edge of three of its total 10 blocks.

Israel is putting pressure on Total to halt exploration in Block 9. It claims that part of it is located in its Exclusive Economic Zone. But Lebanon insists on its right to explore it.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
TT
TT

Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.