A cabinet with full powers has yet to be formed. An ongoing civil war in Syria is spilling over the borders and threatening Lebanon’s peace and stability. An unresolved maritime border conflict between Lebanon and Israel is causing reciprocal accusations of natural gas theft and accusations of exclusive economic zones violations between the two countries. Pending legislations must be issued to delimitate Lebanon’s offshore blocks and approve the model exploration and production agreement. In other words, Lebanon has a lot of work to do when both Israel and Cyprus are years ahead in their energy developments.
Cyprus has recently encountered between 3.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf) to 6 tcf (102 bcm to 170 bcm) of natural gas with a gross mean of 5 tcf (142 bcm) in its Aphrodite field as a result of its appraisal drilling. Despite the fact the amounts are less than originally expected, the Cypriot government reiterated its commitment to develop an LNG plant on the island. A first train will process natural gas extracted from Noble’s Block 12 concession. More trains will be added in the near future to eventually accommodate natural gas discovered as a result of Total and ENI-Kogas offshore activities. Noble has a plan to bring gas from offshore to the cash-strapped island by 2016. The island’s government hopes to start exports by 2020.