Source: Reuters
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Monday 30 January 2023 08:25:08
TotalEnergies Says Well Drilling in Lebanon's Offshore Block 9 to Begin in Q3
TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) is keen to start work on Lebanon's offshore Block 9 "as soon as possible", with assessments to begin early next month and well-drilling to launch in the third quarter of 2023, its CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Sunday.
Pouyanne was speaking in a joint news conference in Beirut after signing a three-way consortium deal with QatarEnergy and Eni (ENI.MI) to explore oil and gas in two maritime blocks off the coast of Lebanon known as Blocks 4 and 9.
Following months of talks, QatarEnergy has taken a 30% stake in the consortium, leaving TotalEnergies and Eni with 35% each.
Lebanon hopes discoveries will help it reverse a crippling economic crisis that has cost the local currency more than 97% of its value, eroded the country's foreign reserves and caused rolling blackouts across towns and cities.
Pouyanne said a vessel would arrive in Lebanese waters on Feb. 6 to carry out an environmental survey in Block 9, "and we plan to drill during the third quarter of the year".
The CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, said the exploration could offer a "big opportunity" for Lebanon as the world was facing a major lack of gas.
"From a geological point of view, I am positive" about a discovery in Lebanon's Block 9, Descalzi told reporters.
"We have to hope and pray that it is a real and material one," he said.
Pouyanne and Qatar's energy minister Saad al-Kaabi, also the CEO of QatarEnergy, said they were discussing possible coordination on renewable energy in Lebanon.
Lebanon's first licensing round in 2017 saw a consortium of TotalEnergies, Eni and Russia's Novatek win bids to explore.
Novatek pulled out in September 2022, leaving its stake in the hands of the Lebanese government. The following month, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a landmark agreement brokered by the United States to delineate their long-disputed maritime border.
Block 9 lies adjacent to the newly delineated border with Israel. According to the agreement, if discoveries are made in a field that extends south of that border, they would also be exploited by the consortium on behalf of Lebanon but with a royalties system set up for Israel.
Total and Israel have agreed a separate deal for any revenues generated from there.
Pouyanne said the maritime border agreement had ended the "deadlock" facing exploration activities in Block 9.