The "TransOcean Ship" website reported that a drilling ship has departed from Norwegian waters and is currently navigating around Ireland, expected to reach Lebanese territorial waters by mid-August to begin drilling Block 9 in the south and explore the oil and gas quantities located there before entering the exploration stage, according to a report prepared by "Al-Markazia".
While the country is preoccupied with the significant deadline of July 31 for the end of the term of the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, it will enter a critical phase in the oil exploration file in August. This event brings hope for the long-awaited prospect of exploration that the Lebanese have been anticipating after hundreds of opportunities lost by the state that have relegated Lebanon to the bottom of the list of countries benefiting from oil wealth, while Israel has explored, drilled, extracted, and exported its production quantities, signing international agreements to market it.
A senior source in the oil sector told "Al-Markazia" that "the current internal landscape does not bode well... as the government remains in a coma, detached from the reality of its responsibilities which it has often neglected, particularly in the oil file." He pointed out that "the Lebanese government has yet to undertake the necessary reforms on various levels, most notably financial, economic, and administrative reforms to prevent the resources from this wealth from being squandered and corrupted."
The source questioned, "Do they intend to waste the opportunity again and extinguish any hope of benefiting from the oil wealth that ensures a prosperous future for future generations?" He called upon the Lebanese state with all its components "to treat the matter with a high level of responsibility and to hasten the initiation of urgent reforms to preserve this unique wealth and Lebanon's oil position on the global map."
"Al-Markazia" concluded: "Is there a political will to agree on putting the reforms into action?! The answer seems negative in light of the ongoing vacuum from one sovereign position to another, deepening the country’s collapse from bad to worse."
