UPDATE 1-Lebanon selects 46 firms to bid for offshore gas exploration

By Laila Bassam BEIRUT, April 18 (Reuters) - Lebanon has selected 46international oil companies to bid to explore for gas in itsMediterranean waters, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said onThursday. Bassil said 12 firms could bid as operators and the other 34could bid as non-operators in the licensing round which opens onMay 2, starting a process which should lead to agreement onexploration licences by March next year. Lebanon hopes that sizeable gas discoveries could helpaddress both its high government debt and chronic domestic powershortages, but its initial steps towards exploration have beenplagued by delays and now face additional uncertainty. Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned last month and hisdesignated replacement has yet to form a new government. Only anew cabinet can approve a document setting out the 10exploration blocs, ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 square km, whichwas awaiting cabinet endorsement when Mikati resigned, andapprove the final results of the bidding process. Lebanon is also involved in a dispute over the maritimeborder with its southern neighbour Israel, which has alreadydiscovered huge gas reserves. But Bassil said the country would move ahead with thebidding round despite the domestic political uncertainty and thedisagreement with Israel, which fought a month-long war withLebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2006. "Today we have completed everything required to launch thelicensing process and to receive bids from the 46 countries," hetold a news conference. "The issue of the borders with Israel will not have animpact as long as we are alert...There are many cases around theworld of disagreement over borders, where oil is extractedwithout one side harming the other." The companies which have pre-qualified to bid as operatorsare: Anadarko Petroleum Corp Chevron Corp ENI ExxonMobil INPEX Maersk Petrobras Petronas Repsol Shell Statoil Total -