Saudi-Lebanon Spat all about Iran

[Kate Turlington + 44]

What happened with the scandal over Qatar earlier this year, also happened to Lebanon's PM, Hariri, and it's all about Iran. Hariri is back home now and has not in fact resigned his post, but what some might not know is that this was a message from the Saudi Crown Prince: Hariri, long the golden boy of the Saudi royal family, is on the outs. I wonder what this is going to mean for investors in the Hariri empire, which has been shielded from corruption charges for a long time thanks to the Saudis. Think Saudi Oger (massive construction firm); Saraya Holdings (real estate); Arab Bank ...

[Seleskya + 50]

Wasn't aware of this connection to the Kingdom by Hariri ... but I see that Qatari PM today called Saudi Arabia a 'bully': 

“Lebanon is a fragile country, and pressuring the Prime Minister to resign and leave a vacuum in a country – which is very sensitive for everybody – is a counter-productive policy,” Mr al-Thani said at a round table discussion including The Independent, at a conference in London.

“This is a big country bullying a small country – we have seen it in Qatar and now we are seeing it repeated in Lebanon.

[Kate Turlington + 44]

Lebanon is too fragile to withstand Saudi meddling ... I wonder how this is going to affect their progress at offshore exploration and development, which had only just gotten off the ground in terms of bidding / tenders. 

[Seleskya + 50]

That's kind of poetic justice, actually. If this ends up further derailing Lebanon's offshore development, the Saudis will have done the Israeli's a favor. 

[Carlsbad + 19]

In third week of December, Lebanon's cabinet approved two bids for blocks 4 and 9, with a consortium of Shell, Eni and Russian Novatek. Now they still need to finalize the EPA as I understand it?