Cabinet has once again failed to endorse a law for onshore oil and gas exploration, almost three months after it committed to do so by April 7.

The law had been up for a vote during a March 7 session of Parliament, but Speaker Nabih Berri gave ministers one month to study it based on requests from Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.

A source at Cabinet’s Secretariat-general had told LOGI last month that the law was transferred to Cabinet on March 11, and a ministerial committee to study the draft law had been formed on March 21. 

That committee has not yet completed studying the law, which would regulate the exploration and production of hydrocarbons on Lebanese land territory.

LOGI organized a closed expert meeting on July 8th to tackle the onshore law, and developed concrete recommendations that will help decision makers move in the right direction. 

“We feel that there is a conversation that needs to exist prior to the development of such an important law,” LOGI Executive Director Diana Kaissy said. “This for sure did not happen yet, or it happened within the closed walls of either the parliament or the relevant ministries.”