Sponsored by: Investment Center

Something new in your business?  Click here to submit your business press release

Chamber Corner | Main Street News | Job Hunt | Classifieds | Calendar | Illinois Lottery 

Lebanon to begin oil, gas exploration in 2015

[February 16, 2013]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Energy Minister Gibran Bassil says Lebanon will begin oil and gas exploration within two years.

Bassil spoke on Friday while launching a pre-qualification process for companies that want to get licenses for oil and gas work off the Lebanese coast.

Lebanon is a resource-poor nation and any finds could help it pay off what is one of the highest debt rates in the world.

Bassil told reporters that exploration will begin at the end of 2015 and development would start the following year.

Recent Israeli discoveries of oil and gas have raised tensions between Lebanon and Israel, which are in a state of war.

Both countries claim a small maritime area of 850 square kilometers (328 square miles) in the Mediterranean.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.