Total set to drill off Lebanon

Vantage Drilling of the US is set to provide the rig

Patrick Pouyanne told Upstream: We are going to drill in 2020
Patrick Pouyanne told Upstream: We are going to drill in 2020Foto: Benoit Tessier

France's Total and partners are poised to drill their first wildcat on Block 4 off Lebanon despite growing nationwide protests in a country in financial and political crisis.

Total chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told Upstream: "We are going to drill in 2020. We are ready and the(drilling rig) is on its way."

He did not give an exact spud date but indicated it will be early in the new year.

Vantage Drilling of the US is set to provide the rig, with the drillship Tungsten Explorer having previously drilled the Nour prospect in Egypt for partner Eni, which has a 40% stake in Block 4.

Total is also on 40% while Russia’s Novatek has a 20% stake.

Total's first well in the Block 4 frontier play in the East Mediterranean will be located north-west of Beirut, targeting an oil play in the southern part of the acreage.

According to Mona Sukkarieh, co-founder of Beirut-based political risk consultancy Middle East Strategic Perspectives, the next well is “possibly” due to start drilling in May 2020 in the northern part of Block 9.

Sukkarieh said the second well is “a sensitive” operation because it will take place in a block partly claimed by Israel.

However, she pointed out that less than 8% of the block is disputed, with Total’s area of interest located 25 kilometres from the disputed border.

Sukkarieh said efforts to settle the dispute are under way, highlighting suggestions that US-sponsored negotiations could take place soon at Naqoura, headquarters of Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

If gas is discovered, the local market will be only 250 billion cubic feet in 2030 so exports will be the only viable solution.

Sukkarieh said government officials in Lebanon have discussed three export options, all of them with significant challenges — extending the Arab Gas Pipeline north to Turkey; building an offshore line to Turkey; and linking up other lines with existing or proposed infrastructure in the region.

However, growing protests and the absence of a functional government are a concern, raising the possibility of a delay to what could turn Lebanon into another East Mediterranean exploration hotspot after Egypt, Israel and Cyprus.

Lebanon’s outgoing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri is trying to form a new government amid continuing political turmoil and social unrest which has plunged Lebanon into its worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

The protests led Hariri to quit as prime minister on 29 October.

(Copyright)
Published 14 November 2019, 09:26Updated 14 November 2019, 08:26
LebanonEast MediterraneanTotalEniNovatek