Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water, Gebran Bassil, hopes that the caretaker government will meet before November to approve two key oil and gas decrees needed before prequalified companies submit their bids in the first offshore licensing round.

Failure to approve the decrees on time will result in a mandated six-month delay to the bid round, an increasingly likely prospect. Contract terms and delineation of offshore blocks will be addressed in the two decrees. (CONTINUED - 402 WORDS)