Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE) is committed to working with local partners to help build the right ecosystem to drive the market’s attractiveness in Lebanon’s oil and gas industry, said Nick Nawfal, the company’s Geo-market VP for Saudi and Bahrain.

He was speaking ahead of the 4th Lebanon International Oil & Gas (LIOG) Summit which kicks off on April 24 to 25 at the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand. BHGE is a major sponsor at the event.

BHGE presents itself as the ‘world’s first and only fullstream company.’ With its portfolio, technology and the people, the company has the fullstream capability to ‘radically transform the oil and gas industry and deliver unparalleled improvement in industrial yield for customers, from reservoir to refinery,’ stated Nawfal.

On Lebanese petroleum sector's potential, Nawfal said: "We believe the market in Lebanon has a lot of potential. In the last few years, we have seen some very promising oil and gas discoveries, explorations and pre-explorations in neighbouring countries that could help reduce the risks during Lebanon’s explorations and pre-explorations phase and expedite the learning curve."

Currently, the oil and gas sector in Lebanon is in its pre-exploration phase and this brings a lot of opportunities and investment to the market, he stated while discussing the company’s perception, future plans and commitment to Lebanon’s oil and gas industry with the LIOG summit team.

"Additionally, with the recent legal, economic and financial reforms, the sector now has a strong framework and structure that makes it easier to operate," he added.

According to Nawfal, an ecosystem for Lebanon’s oil and gas sector has been created which creates a unique opportunity for local Lebanese companies and SME’s hence strengthening supply chain.

"The demand for natural gas is one of the country’s key priorities due to its correlation with local consumptions, support electricity, heating and possibly exports in the future. Together, this has a huge impact on household, industrial, commercial and transport hubs. This marks a new era for Lebanon’s energy sector which has a strong and direct impact on the country’s economy, industry and stability," he stated.

On the required investments in the sector, BHGE official said: "We are still at the pre-exploration phase, therefore our assessment and evaluation of the situation is ongoing. The deep-water offshore exploration is very heavy on capital and requires massive investment in infrastructure that is required to support the drilling, production and transportation phase."

"However, we see the value and potential in the market and we’re keen to be part of this transformation era for Lebanon’s oil and gas sector from the start," he noted.

Nawfal pointed out that the overall growth in the oil and gas sector acted as an enabler and catalyst for growth economically and across industries.

This movement in country makes the market more attractive for local and foreign investments and also creates opportunities to invest in the infrastructure to match this growth, he observed.

"We believe reducing technical and geopolitical uncertainties will help investors to have more trust in the Lebanese ecosystem to support this pre-exploration phase; we also see the potential for Lebanon to be a hub or services, drilling, logistics and manufacturing for the oil and gas sector in the future," he added.-TradeArabia News Service