A coalition of Total Energies, Eni, and Qatar Energy applied for the second licensing round to bid on oil and gas blocks 8 and 10 in Lebanese waters, just an hour before the deadline on Monday, Lebanon's energy ministry said.
The consortium is the same one that last month began drilling an exploratory well in Lebanon’s Block 9, one of the blocks falling alongside the newly delineated maritime border between Lebanon and Israel.
The boundary was drawn last year following U.S.-mediated talks. The deadline to bid on Blocks 8 and 10 had already been extended several times in recent years.
(Reuters - Reporting by Maya Gbeily; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Susan Fenton)