KEC interested in oil bid

Kuwaiti company reveals intention to tender for oil and gas exploration rights off the coast

Kuwait Energy Company (KEC) for oil and gas exploration and production said that it intends to bid for drilling rights off the coast of Lebanon.

The company hasn't yet entered into talks with the Lebanese government. Bidding for oil exploration will start once the cabinet completes the relevant regulations. The joint parliamentary committees tasked with discussing the oil and gas exploration file announced, in November, that the companies interested in obtaining licenses would be given the requirements’ lists during the first quarter of 2012.

“The company has considered the petroleum prospects in the eastern Mediterranean and is just waiting for Lebanon to make official its oil and gas regulations next year in order to enter talks with the government,” KEC’s CEO Sara Akbar was quoted as saying.

Established in 2005, KEC’s principal activities include exploration, drilling and production of oil and gas. It already has operating interests in Egypt, Yemen, Ukraine, Russia and Latvia.

British oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy PLC had earlier announced that it has formed a three company consortium to bid for the rights to drill for oil and gas off the coast of Lebanon. Cairn's consortium partners are CC Energy Development (an associated company of CCC, a Lebanese contractor company), and British company Cove Energy PLC.

According to an estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey last year, there may be 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and around 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin.