What’s Happening with the Oil & Gas Sector in Lebanon
Who’s LOGI?
LOGI (Lebanon Oil and Gas Initiative) is an awesome Lebanese NGO that’s working hard on unraveling the black box that is Lebanon’s oil and gas industry.
The Oil and Gas Sector in Lebanon
In the past few years, this sector has been plagued with a lack of transparency that has most citizens which are not affiliated to a political party, skeptical about the lofty prospects and promises given about this sector. Unfortunately, most taxpayers feel it’s just another blackhole of corruption in the making, and doubt that the benefits (if any) of this sector, will end up helping the country’s economy, but just lining the pockets of Lebanon’s politicians like most other corruption-infested sectors in Lebanon.
The Video
LOGI released a hilarious and well-executed video today, that highlights the suspicious speed of passing laws associated with this sector, without anyone being sure about what’s next and how it will be implemented, given we are at least a decade away (7 years is the most optimistic prediction) from actually extracting oil and gas, if ever, with the recent Israeli incursion into a block that is supposed to be Lebanon’s.
The Cumbersome, Mysterious Laws Passed at Lightning Speed
The draft laws in question are: the draft law for establishing the National Oil Company, the draft law for establishing the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the draft law for establishing the Directorate for Petroleum Assets and the draft law for Onshore oil and gas exploration.
Personally, I’m not sure why we need to pay taxpayer money to create these entities and employ people to work at them, when we don’t even have an oil sector yet. This sounds and smells fishy, and needs to be clarified to taxpayers, given the current government has done everything it can to hike taxes, but has done absolutely nothing to stop corruption and wasteful spending.
What’s most worrying for me, is the sudden urge to look of oil and gas on land, which wasn’t the case before. If dams and other developmental projects are any reference, this means further destruction of natural areas, cultural landmarks and irreplaceable archeological gems, in a country already drowning in untreated garbage.
We need to create enough public awareness on this issue so that the decision makers delay the passing of the four draft laws I mentioned above, and review them taking into consideration LOGI’s recommendations. We might have a chance at building a robust, transparent sector from scratch, let’s not let them fuck it up.
My Two Cents
Personally, I just wish we can strike a good deal with oil producers so they send us crude oil we can process here, take our share, and resell the by-products to other countries. It’d be cheaper and easier to do that than off-shore drilling, especially given the steadily low price of oil, and the rest of the world shifting away from fossil fuels into renewable energy sources that are becoming more and more reliable and cost-effective, creating more jobs and helping keep what’s left from our environment intact.
You can find answers to more of your questions on LOGI’s website.
The campaign by LOGI partner organization Kulluna Irada, a newly-formed civic movement for political reform.
