Lebanon Didn’t Offer Any Concessions on Maritime Boundary Delimitation – Lebanese Presidency

By Staff, Agencies

The Lebanese Presidency underlined that Lebanon did not offer any concessions during the indirect negotiations with the "Israeli" entity on the delimitation of the maritime boundary.

The Lebanese Presidency press office indicated on Friday that “what has been achieved as to the delimitation of the southern sea boundary is the result of a Lebanese decision that reflects the unity of the Lebanese stance and the result of tough and difficult negotiations that were led by the Lebanese negotiating team with the US mediator.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, the Presidency affirmed that "during the negotiations, Lebanon did not offer any concessions and it did not bow to any bargains, swaps, 'deals' or the wills of foreign nations."

It added that everything that promotes the opposite is pure slander, and it is shameful that it comes from parties that are supposed to stand by their state.

The statement also underlined that "the issue of delimitation is an achievement at the level of the country and for the sake of its sons, not for the sake of a person, a side, a party or a foreign nation."

The Presidency concluded that the delimitation will be in the interest of Lebanon and the Lebanese people, adding that this will appear during the implementation stages in the coming months.

On Tuesday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on TotalEnergies company to quickly begin exploring Block 9 in the Mediterranean Sea, to make up for the time lost due to indirect negotiations to identify the southern maritime boundary.

In a tweet, the presidential office said that Aoun met a delegation from the company after Lebanon agreed on the text of the document this month to identify its disputed maritime boundary after years of negotiations that were held under US mediation.

"Lebanon has become an oil-producing country, and what was once a dream has become a reality today thanks to our steadfastness," Aoun said, noting that Total "will have to start exploration to compensate the country for the years that have passed without oil and gas being extracted."

Right after Aoun's statement, US mediator Amos Hochstein stated that he hoped TotalEnergies and ENI could begin gas exploration in Lebanese maritime blocs within weeks.

The TotalEnergies-led consortium that won rights to explore two offshore blocks also included Russia's Novatek, but it pulled out last month.

On his part, Lebanon's caretaker Energy Minister, Walid Fayyad, pointed out that Qatar has expressed an interest in joining the consortium.