Lebanon and Cyprus: New Offshore Opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin

Per Helge Semb, II
University in Oslo, Norway
[email protected]

Lebanon and Cyprus have not to date been explored for oil and gas although they are highly prospective and located close to proven hydrocarbon systems. But this is likely to change. Newly acquired 2-D and 3-D seismic data in offshore Cyprus and Lebanon have imaged several structures that show indications of hydrocarbons. This area has already generated high interest in the petroleum industry with the launch of the first license round for offshore Cyprus. It will further gain attention when the forthcoming license round for offshore Lebanon is launched. There are several reasons why the eastern Mediterranean Basin is considered highly prospective. These include the regional sealing Messinian Salt, numerous reservoir intervals, large structural closures and well-known source sequences within the Mesozoic, which appears to be productive elsewhere in the region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90077©2008 GEO 2008 Middle East Conference and Exhibition, Manama, Bahrain