Lebanon's Promised Oil Wealth
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issue number 137 |December 2013 MARRIAGE OF FEMALE MINORS BETWEEN LAW AND RELIGION GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL SECURITY THE MONTHLY INTERVIEWS www.iimonthly.com • Published by Information International sal NASSER OMAR Lebanon’s Promised OIL WEALTH Lebanon 5,000LL | Saudi Arabia 15SR | UAE 15DHR | Jordan 2JD| Syria 75SYP | Iraq 3,500IQD | Kuwait 1.5KD | Qatar 15QR | Bahrain 2BD | Oman 2OR | Yemen 15YRI | Egypt 10EP | Europe 5Euros December INDEX 2013 4 Lebanon’s PromiseD OIL WEALTH 9 MARRIAGE OF FEMALE MINORS BETWEEN LAW AND RELIGION 10 Lebanon’s NOTARIES PUBLIC 12 TOURISM IN LEBANON 15 EDUCATION IN LEBANON 16 DECLINE IN PUBLIC Schools’ STUDENT POPULATION P: 28 P: 44 18 MIXED MARRIAGES IN LEBANON (6) BEIRUT MOHAFAZA 20 EXPENSES OF THE STATE EMPLOYEES COOP 21 GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL SECURITY 24 I SRAELI KNESSET 25 T ESTOSTERONE: DR. HANNA SAADAH 26 THE ORDER VERSUS CHAOS CONTROVERSY: ANTOINE BOUTROS 28 INTERVIEW: NASSER OMAR P: 48 HEAD OF AL-HERI MUNICIPALITY 30 ASSABIL 46 THIS MONTH IN HISTORY- ARAB WORLD 32 pOPULAR CULTURE 32 YEARS SINCE THE KNESset’s UNILATERAL ANNEXATION OF THE GOLAN HEIGHTS TO ISRAEL 33 DEBUNKING MYTH#76: IS THE GULF REGION A PARADISE FOR WORKERS? 47 STATUS OF CAR IMPORTS IN SYRIA 34 mUST-READ BOOKS: SECRET OF THE STATE AT 48 POVERTY-STRICKEN IRAQ THE GENERAL SECURITY - NICOLAS NASSIF 49 REAL ESTATE PRICES IN LEBANON - 37 mUST-read children’s bOOK: CEILING OCTOBER 2013 CREATURES 50 DID YOU KNOW THAT?: 2012 ONE OF 38 LEBANON FAMILIES: FAMILIES DENOTING BLOODIEST YEARS FOR JOURNALISTS LEBANESE TOWNS (9) 50 RAFIC HARIRI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 38 DISCOVER LEBANON: BAISSOUR TRAFFIC - SEPTEMBER 2013 40 OCTOBER 2013 HIGHLIGHTS 51 lebanon’s stATS 44 THIS MONTH IN HISTORY- LEBANON NIZAM Al Qa’iMAQAMIYATEIN OR THE PARTITION OF LEBANON |EDITORIAL MAKTOUB “..It was all written by God- maktoub.” Those were the words of a Lebanese survivor of the Australia-bound boat tragedy that unfolded off the Indonesian coast. Indeed, our birth, our land of birth and the families we are born into are all ordained events- maktoub. We were predestined to hail from Qab’it, Akkar. But what’s more? Has God also predestined us to raise the banners of sectarianism and Zua’ma from birth to death? Has he predestined us to lack health coverage? Has he predestined us to be herded by the nose by legislators who fail to legislate and ministers who fail to administer and presidents who fail to preside? Has God predestined one of the survivors to say that Hezbollah will pay him, as a Sunni, any amount, from a penny to a million, in a subliminal hint aimed at the Sunni Zua’ma to hand him money or else? Has God ordained that the student population in public schools drops down to 30% as opposed to 70% in private schools? Has he ordained the non-implementation of the master plan for all Lebanese regions? Has God predestined our Mukhtars and heads of municipalities to wallow in bribes and corruption? Has he predestined us to have a caretaker Prime Minister and a Prime Minister-designate? Has he predestined the opulent Economic Committees* to grumble about poverty and to threaten to strike at a time when laborers risk dismissal at the slightest mention of a potential strike action? Has God dictated inheritance of political power from grandfather to father to son? Has he dictated the squandering of millions annually on dilapidated roads? Has he ordained that we encroach on public properties and deny people access to their beach, unless they were seeking death in the Indonesian waters? Is our desperate longing for water and power supply a God-ordained fate? Has the Lord written that we should turn disasters into parodies and trip over ourselves to demonstrate empathy toward those fleeing to Australia, in a spectacle resembling a ridiculous and disgust-inducing farce? Our birth in Qab’it or Aadchit El-Qusair was perhaps maktoub. All the rest, we wrote it ourselves, so let us speak no more. * Coalition of business owners. 4 | LEADER LEBANON’s PromISED OIL WEALTH USD 166 BILLION? Will the dream come true and what has always been a mere fantasy turn into tangible facts? The latest seismic surveys performed by global companies and confirming the presence of abundant oil and gas reserves in Lebanon’s waters have begged the question of whether Lebanon will transition from the phase of oil importation to the phase of production and exportation. Oil Exploration Attempts Attempts during French Mandate of Lebanon The oil exploration journey began in the first Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) began drillings in the years of the French mandate when the French town of Terbol in north Lebanon and later in 1953, High Commissioner Henry de Jouvenel issued a an American company called US Pacific Western dug decision authorizing the excavation, extraction and deep into the earth until they found gas at 700 meters exploitation of oil and metal reserves. down. Later, research and studies were carried out in search Between 1960 and 1961, a German company working of oil resources. The most important of these was for the IPC drilled a well in the town of Adloun in south the exploration attempt initiated by French geologist Lebanon and two other wells were dug by an Italian Louis Dubertret appointed by the French Mining company in 1963 in Sohmur and Tal el-Zounoub in Authority and the National Museum of Natural Western Beqa’a and in the town of Abrine in eastern History, which launched the geological scanning Batroun. However, all these attempts proved futile as project. For 25 years, starting in 1930, Dubertret and they focused on onshore drillings only. his team worked to organize Lebanon’s geological map on a scale of 1/200,000. This study helped highlight certain aspects of the oil exploration processes and it transpired that the Lebanese territory, given the nature of its geological layers, was a favorable medium for oil and gas discovery. Attempts after Independence From 1947, the Lebanese Company for Oil conducted surface geological surveys under the supervision of French geologist Louis Dubertret and the Lebanese geologist George Sabbagh in different Lebanese regions across an area of 3300 km2, raising the possibility of potential oil and gas deposits in the country. Later, excavations confirmed the presence of gas- in small quantities- in Yohmor as well as hydrogen sulfide gas in a mine in Hasbaya and samples were tested by the geochemical laboratories of the French Petroleum Company. The first practical attempt toward gas exploration occurred following the independence. In 1946, the issue 137 | The Monthly is published by Information International s.a.l. LEADER | 5 Pre-War Attempts In 1972, the Head of the Department of Geology at The file was not accorded the attention it deserved until the American University of Beirut, Dr. Ziad Baydoun, June 22, 2010 when the US firm Noble Energy conducted submitted a study to the Arab Petroleum Conference 3D seismic surveys that confirmed the previous PGS held at the time in Algeria, where he pinpointed findings, identifying a huge natural gas field called potential presence of oil reserves in Lebanon. In his “Leviathan” in the Mediterranean Sea in the global study, Dr. Baydoun built on previous surveys that maritime zone between Palestine’ maritime borders and had estimated the existence of over 2000 meters of Cyprus, off the Lebanese coast. The Leviathan gas field maritime layers where oil can be found, adding that is said to contain 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. the reserves were most likely abundant in North Lebanon. The process of exploring for oil In turn, Lebanese scientist Ghassan Kanso conducted several studies that assured the existence of both “and gas resources is not a recent onshore and offshore oil resources in Lebanon, initiative, but rather an endeavor that mainly between Batroun and Tripoli. dates back to around 90 years, albeit it has gained further momentum and The research carried out by Dr. Baydoun encouraged follow up in the past few years several global petroleum companies to seek concessions for oil and gas exploration in Lebanon “ between 1973-74. Based on the above, one may conclude that the In early 1975, the then President of the Republic process of exploring for oil and gas resources is not Suleiman Frangieh urged Dr. Baydoun to continue a recent initiative, but rather an endeavor that dates his work and to lay down an integrated plan for the back to around 90 years, albeit it has gained further prospects of oil in Lebanon and the steps necessary momentum and follow up in the past few years. And to regulate this sector in light of the requests of perhaps, the positive findings unfolding recently are companies seeking exploration. Hence, Decree No. attributed mainly to the technological progress in 10095 was issued on April 11, 1975 allowing the seismic surveying which allowed for wider offshore Ministry of Industry and Oil to revise the concessions exploration. granted for oil exploration and to use them for the advantage of the state, but the eruption of the Civil Oil-related Legislations War a few days later brought all these efforts to a halt. In a bid to keep up with the latest exploration activities and regulate the awaited oil sector, the Lebanese Post-War Attempts government has issued several laws and decrees in Following the end of the war, oil exploration the past few years. Those included: endeavors resumed in 1993 but were also interrupted until 2002 when the government signed a contract Law No. 132 issued on August 24, 2010 on with the British firm Spectrum, whereby the latter Petroleum Resources in Maritime Waters.