TotalEnergies voiced its hope over determining the quantities of gas contained in Block 9 in the south by the end of 2023, according to the company’s Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, Laurent Vivier, in remarks to Annahar.

Viver said that following the maritime border demarcation agreement between Lebanon and Israel, Totalenergies shall accelerate the preparations to begin drilling the first well to assess the capacity of this block.

He explained that in all drilling operations, preparations were traditionally made in stages; from the team arrangement and then the tenders for the equipment selected according to the oil platform and its technical specifications.

Yet in Lebanon, Viver said the company would be making the preparations in parallel, not in phases, to speed up the drilling.

“We hope to be able to know what the block contains by the end of 2023," he stated.