Qatar Energy takes 30% stake in Lebanon’s offshore gas blocks
Qatar Energy , formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The President & CEO is Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs. The company’s operations are directly linked with state planning agencies, regulatory authorities, and policy making bodies. Together, revenues from oil and natural gas amount to 60% of the country’s GDP. As of 2018 it was the third largest oil company in the world by oil and gas reserves. In 2020, the company had total revenues of US$21bn, a net income of US$7.9bn, and total assets of US$116bn.In 2021, Qatar Energy was the fifth largest gas company in the world.
Qatar Energy has signed an agreement with France’s Total Energies and Italy’s Eni to join them in the exploration for natural gas in Lebanon’s Mediterranean waters.
The consortium of Total Energies and Eni has already completed the transfer of a 30 per cent stake to Qatar Energy in the exploration of blocks 4 and 9 off the coast of Lebanon, the French company said in a statement on Sunday.
Under the agreement, Total Energies and Eni will each retain a 35 per cent interest in the blocks.
“Along with our partners, we are committed to drilling as soon as possible in 2023 an exploration well in Block 9, and our teams are mobilized to conduct these operations,” Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive of Total Energies, said.
The US-mediated deal paved the way for both countries to conduct gas exploration in the Mediterranean while easing a potential source of tension.
“The recent delineation of Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel has created a new momentum for the exploration of its hydrocarbon potential,” Mr Pouyanné said.
Lebanon hopes that demarcating maritime borders will pave the way for gas exploration that will help to lift it out of its crippling economic crisis that has wiped out 97 per cent of its currency’s value, eroded its foreign reserves and plunged the country into blackouts as power shortages surged.
In 2017, Lebanon approved licences for an international consortium including Total Energies, Eni and Russia’s Novatek to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of 10 blocks in the Mediterranean. Novatek withdrew in 2022 from the exploration efforts.
The consortium partners signed the agreement in Beirut on January 29, at a ceremony attended by Walid Fayad, Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water; Saad Al Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and president and chief executive of Qatar Energy; Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Eni, and Mr Pouyanné.
