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Lebanon earlier this week granted a non-exclusive reconnaissance license to a US-Norwegian energy data and services provider to conduct a three-dimensional seismic survey in one of the country’s offshore maritime blocks.

During a press conference Tuesday, caretaker Energy and Water Minister Walid Fayyad announced that Oslo-based TGS was granted a permit to survey an area of about 1,300 square km in Block 8, off southern Lebanon.

It is the only block out of 10 in total not to be included in the seismic surveys conducted between 2006 and 2013 due to its close location to Israel, with which Lebanon demarcated its maritime border in a US-brokered deal in 2022.

Lebanon had been unable to explore its southern offshore reserves for years due to an ongoing dispute with Israel over the boundaries of the countries' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Indirect negotiations between the two hostile countries have taken place over this.

Years-long political stalemate in Lebanon has also stopped the country exploiting its resources.

Previous data will be reprocessed in Lebanon’s EEZ by using modern and advanced technologies, in addition to merging all previous data, Fayyad said.

The minister’s announcement comes two weeks after the ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group came into effect, ending a war that devastated large parts of Lebanon.

The important step to work on Block 8 revives Lebanon’s slow progress in the petroleum sector and could attract companies to invest in the field if the results are promising, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The gas and oil consortium in Lebanon includes Qatar Energy, Italy’s Eni and France’s Total Energies.

Al-Akhbar said unlike the consortium which told Beirut it will need four years to finalise its seismic survey, TGS said it would only take one year.

The newspaper said the consortium’s procrastination raised speculation about potential political motives, especially since Israel has already begun work on its side of the maritime area where Block 8 exists.

An oil drilling rig from Total Energies arrived at Block 9 off the coast of southern Lebanon in August last year to begin drilling an exploratory well to assess the status of the area's hydrocarbon reserve.

It was the first step in exploiting the country's potential gas reserves.

Block 9 sits about 120 kilometres west of Lebanon, with the 2022 maritime deal placing part of the field in Israel's EEZ.