Lebanon will auction energy-development rights to five offshore areas and adopt production-sharing contracts to attract international investors as the tiny country seeks to join a regional race to tap oil and gas wealth in the eastern Mediterranean.
The government may qualify more bidders for its first sale of offshore energy licenses, and it plans later to announce dates for the historic auction, Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said Thursday in Beirut. He made his comments a day after Lebanon’s cabinet approved two decrees allowing the nation to move ahead with the sale, ending three years of delays.
