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Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, received the Lebanese Minister of Energy Walid Fayad at the company's headquarters, TotalEnergies said on Monday.

In a press release, the company indicated that during their meeting, Pouyanné and Fayad "discussed the development of TotalEnergies' activities in Lebanon," adding that Pouyanné confirmed that the teams in charge of drilling operations on Block number 9 were now mobilized.

According to TotalEnergies, "To date, in addition to the Operations Manager, more than 10 people are involved in the preparation of the well," noting that by the end of March 2023, "the team mobilized in Beirut will reach more than 20 employees."

The French energy and petroleum company pointed out that "the call for tenders to secure the drilling rig has been launched and should lead to a selection of the rig in the first quarter of 2023. Pre-orders have also been placed with suppliers for equipment required for the well."

"In parallel, offshore resources are being mobilized to contribute to the environmental studies which will be finalized by the end of June 2023," TotalEnergies said.

The company affirmed that all its teams are working in collaboration with the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) "to prepare the well in order to achieve the objective of TotalEnergies and its partner ENI to complete the drilling as soon as possible in 2023."

It is noteworthy that TotalEnergies reached a deal with the Lebanese government on the gas field. The initial exploration license for Block number 9 was held by a consortium of TotalEnergies, Italy's Eni, and Russia's Novatek, though the latter exited the group as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Through indirect negotiations brokered by the United States, Lebanon and the Israeli occupation concluded in late October a maritime border deal.

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