Reuters reported that Lebanon ill seewk bids from February 1st from companies wanting to pre qualify for oil and gas exploration drilling in its Mediterranean waters and has set a May 2nd date for formal applications.

Seismic surveys of Lebanon's waters suggest they contain several trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Mr Gebran Bassil minister of Energy and Water said that one southern bloc alone could hold 12 trillion cubic feet and this was enough gas to produce electricity for Lebanon for 99 years.

Mr Wael Abu Faour minister of Social Affairs that a shortlist of pre-qualified companies would be announced on March 21st.

Mr Abu Faour said that "The date for submission of requests for licenses will be May 2nd"

Officials said that they expect final agreement on licensing to be reached in March 2014.

Interest in drilling in the eastern Mediterranean has grown since two natural gas fields were discovered off Israel, Lebanon's southern neighbor. Lebanon has been hoping that sizeable gas discoveries could help address both its high level of government debt and chronic domestic power shortages.

Meanwhile, it had planned to launch tenders for exploration drilling more than six months ago, but delays in setting up an oil and gas oversight committee forced a postponement.