Hezbollah: US Fiercely Opposed To Lebanon’s Offshore Hydrocarbon Explorations

By Staff, Agencies

Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, His Eminence Sayyed Hashem Safieddine said the United States is preventing the Arab country from offshore crude oil and natural gas exploration and production, stating that Lebanon possesses the ability to tap its own energy resources to cover its domestic demands.

“The US is the main opponent to Lebanon’s extracting of its crude oil reserves and enjoying its own national wealth,” Sayyed Safieddine said at a religious ceremony in the southern Lebanese town of al-Ansariah on Sunday.

The Hezbollah official further underscored that the Lebanese authorities must officially and clearly demarcate the country’s maritime borders and settle a dispute with the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich Mediterranean Sea.

Sayyed Safieddine also noted that some “ignorant people” in Lebanon are helping the United States “stonewall the exploration,” adding that political misconduct and corruption over the past few decades have led to the worsening of financial and economic crises in Lebanon and subsequent catastrophic repercussions.

The senior official of the Lebanese resistance group said the United States, along with some of its mercenaries, is trying to target Hezbollah and blame the resistance movement for the status quo in Lebanon.

Sayyed Safieddine went on to say that the Lebanese people, through unity, can resolve the political and economic hiatus that their country is currently experiencing.

“Lebanon can preserve its wealth and victories through resistance, which is the strongest and most viable option. The Lebanese nation needs to rise up and come together in order to find a solution to all major problems,” the Hezbollah official said.

Lebanese politicians hope that commercially viable hydrocarbon resources off Lebanon’s coast could help lift the debt-ridden country out of its worst economic crisis in decades.

In February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for drilling in two blocks in the Mediterranean with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, Eni, and Novatek.

Lebanon and the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime took part in indirect talks to discuss demarcation in 2020. But the talks stalled after Lebanon demanded a larger area, including part of the Karish gas field, where the occupation entity has given exploration rights to a Greek firm.

The talks were supposed to discuss a Lebanese demand for 860sq km of territory in the disputed maritime area, according to a map sent to the United Nations in 2011.

However, Lebanon then said the map was based on erroneous calculations and demanded 1,430 square kilometers more further south, including part of Karish.