据今日油价8月24日报道，黎巴嫩是地中海东部最不为人知的海上石油和天然气地区，它正在为加入产油国联盟做准备。

2019年底，最可能是11月到12月，预计将开始海上钻井，主要针对一些高产盆地。以色列、塞浦路斯和埃及的海上项目成功经历也支持了贝鲁特这一风险计划。黎巴嫩能源和水资源部长纳达?布斯塔尼(Nada Boustani)重申，该国的第二轮授权正受到广泛关注。黎巴嫩根据地震研究估计其天然气储量为25万亿立方英尺(tcf)，但这些储量尚未经钻探证实，也不一定是商业上可行的储量。

在本周接受国际媒体采访时，布斯塔尼对预期的结果表现出极度乐观的态度，他希望近海天然气的发现能给目前苦苦挣扎的黎巴嫩经济带来巨大提振。贝鲁特面临电力短缺、经济危机和大量难民的困境。

2018年，黎巴嫩向一个由法国道达尔)、意大利埃尼集团和俄罗斯诺瓦泰克组成的财团授予了首个海上天然气和石油勘探与生产协议，涉及两个区块。其它公司，尤其是俄罗斯运营商，也对第二轮授权很感兴趣。第一口井预计将于2019年底开钻。第二轮招标的结果预计不会在2020年年初之前公布，因为投标截止日期定在2020年1月31日。俄罗斯卢克石油公司(Lukoil)、BP)和马来西亚国家石油公司都对此表现出了兴趣。到目前为止，尽管华盛顿参与了筹备工作，但没有任何美国公司正式表现出兴趣。

邹勤 摘译自 今日油价

原文如下：

Lebanon’s High Risk Offshore Oil & Gas Boom

The least known offshore oil and gas frontier in the East-Mediterranean, Lebanon is preparing itself for a possible entrance into the producer’s league.

At the end of 2019, most probably November – December, offshore drilling is expected to start, targeting some prolific basins. The offshore success stories in Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, have supported the appetite of Beirut to take the plunge too. Nada Boustani, Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water, also reiterated that the country’s second licensing round is receiving lots of interest. Lebanon estimates its natural gas reserves at 25 trillion cubic feet (tcf) based on seismic studies, but these have not been confirmed by drilling and may not amount to reserves that are commercially viable.

In an interview given to the international press this week, Boustani showed extreme optimism about the expected results, hoping that an offshore gas discovery would give a big boost to the currently struggling Lebanese economy. Beirut has been faced by power shortages, economic crisis and an immense amount of Syrian refugees. In 2018, Lebanon awarded its first offshore gas and oil exploration and production agreements to a consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek for two blocks. Interest of other companies, especially Russian operators is also there for the second licensing round. A first well is expected to be drilled at the end of 2019. The results of the second bidding round are not expected before the beginning of 2020, as the bid closing date is set for 31 January 2020. Interest has been shown by Russia’s Lukoil, UK oil giant BP and Malaysia’s Petronas. Until now, no US companies has officially shown interest, despite Washington’s involvement in the preparations.