Ten months after the Council of Ministers, Lebanon’s cabinet, demanded the establishment of a Petroleum Administration (PA), and nine months after the Energy Minister promised to do so, on Wednesday the six-member body was finally established. Many of those watching from the sidelines were beginning to abandon hope that a deal would ever be struck.
As the year has gone on, Lebanon’s inability to form the crucial committee — which will negotiate with international oil companies and eventually issue licenses for drilling — has allowed its neighbors Israel and Cyprus to pull further ahead in the rush to explore offshore oil and gas. Now, finally, the country can take the next steps in its bid to tap the huge potential wealth off its coast.
Pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes
Yet while having a committee is undoubtedly better than not, there are many questions to be asked about the one that emerged, foremost among which is the speed at which the decision was made. Wednesday's cabinet meeting focused on the current standoff with unions over wages, but with a few minutes remaining the PA was brought up. Reports allege that it was confirmed with little debate.
Member of Parliament Ghazi Youssef, an energy expert from the opposition Future Movement, said the eventual decision was pushed through too fast for proper regulation, and even charged that Prime Minister Najib Mikati was not given time to scrutinize the six-member list.