For someone as intimately familiar with how arduous forming a cabinet in Lebanon can be,

Gebran Bassil is optimistic. By May 2, a Lebanese government has to make two decisions or

the auctioning off of potential undersea riches will have to be delayed.

Last week, Lebanon announced that 52 companies had pre-qualified to bid on contracts to

explore for and extract the natural gas and oil believed to be buried off the coast. The final list of qualified companies will be announced on April 18, and the bidding begins on May 2.However,

A government still has to approve the dividing up of Lebanon’s chunk of the resource-rich

eastern Mediterranean into blocks and a model production sharing agreement...continue reading