The economic future of Lebanon is all at sea, as the participants at the Lebanon InternationalOil & Gas Summit realized – metaphors apart – held in Beirut on 3rd and 4th December. Salah Khayat,Managing Director of Petroleb, the country’s largest upstream oil and gas company, in the two days,gave some explosive news to attendees: “Lebanon has resources of gas and oil valued at tens of billions ofdollars when extracted over the next forty years.” These resources are even greater than those found by Israel off its coastline in recent years, Khayat added with satisfaction.

Thanks to these submarine deposits of natural gas, Lebanon could become a stronger and more independent country, able to export raw materials and increase its weight in the international context.

This change could influence the balances and relations between the countries in the region, but isconsidered with attention – and not without a certain fear – by the world of finance and industry....continue reading