Qatar Energy and TotalEnergies will begin gas exploitation in Lebanon in the first half of August, according to Lebanese Water and Energy Minister Walid Fayyad.  In an interview done on 10 July with the Qatari publication Al-Sharq, Fayyad spoke of the importance of the strategic relationship between Qatar and Lebanon, mentioning its effect on the overall stability of the country and the confidence afforded to Qatari investments directed at Lebanon’s private sector, specifically investments in the solar energy market.  “According to the companies cooperating with us on the matter, data shows promising outcomes for the presence of a commercially viable amount of gas in block 4 and block 9,” the minister said. He added, “The fields viewed in the two-dimensional and three-dimensional charts assure us that there is gas in the targeted blocks.”  “By the beginning of August, digging operations will commence and continue for 90 to 100 days.”  The exploitation of Lebanon’s offshore gas fields has been delayed for many years. Total and Qatar Energy have been working tirelessly toward expanding energy relations with the countries of West Asia, including Saudi Arabia and Iraq.  Also this Monday, Qatar Energy and TotalEnergies signed a long-delayed oil, gas, and renewables deal with Iraq worth $27 billion.  The deal was originally drafted in 2021, but suffered delays. The deal was closed in April after Iraq agreed to take a lower share of the returns amounting to 30 percent.  TotalEnergies took a 45% stake, and Qatar Energy holds the remaining 25%. Qatar first entered talks aimed at joining the deal in January of this year.  On 24 June, Aramco and TotalEnergies awarded Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts for the $11 billion "Amiral" complex, a future world-scale petrochemicals facility expansion at the SATORP refinery in Saudi Arabia.  This expansion is expected to attract more than $4 billion in additional investment in a variety of industrial sectors, creating around 7,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.  Qatar Energy first joined the offshore oil project in Lebanon on January 26. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: The Cradle