This article was published in LOGI's April 2020 newsletter in partnership with Kulluna Irada. 

Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar clarified that no member of Lebanon’s offshore gas exploration team was infected with coronavirus, contrary to what health Minister Hamad Hasan had previously announced. 

Ghajar said during a press conference that a person who arrived in Lebanon on a private plane had initially tested positive for COVID-19, but the test had proven to be a false positive. Later testing had shown that the person was negative for Coronavirus. 

All of the roughly 160 local and foreign personnel who work on the drill rig in Block 4 off the coast of Beirut underwent a 14-day quarantine period before they were allowed on, and so there was no danger to the operations in any case, Ghajar said. 

An international consortium of Total, Eni and Novatek completed exploration in Block 4 in late April, finding signs of gas but no reservoir.