Lebanon to struggle to replicate Israeli success

Israel's clustering approach resulted in the majority of blocks being awarded but the neighbouring Lebanese auction faces tougher challenges

Israel's energy ministry awarded 12 blocks at the end of July, an encouraging return from the 19 blocks offered in its second ever offshore licensing round that closed earlier that month. But while it was an improvement on previous Eastern Mediterranean upstream auctions, it may not be entirely representative of what we can expect from future rounds. In an attempt to learn lessons from its maiden auction in 2017—when only two bidders applied for, and were awarded, six of the 24 available blocks—Israel structured the offer to incentivise the acquisition of multiple contiguous blocks, located in the south and centre of its economic exclusion zone (EEZ). In terms of the numbers participating, t