Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister on Wednesday extended the licensing deadline for oil and gas companies to explore in the country’s territorial waters until mid-December, to give more firms the chance to bid, state-run news agency reported. The decision by the minister, Walid Fayad, to extended the deadline of the second round of licensing until December 15 followed a request by the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, the National News Agency said. In 2017, Lebanon approved licenses for an international consortium by France’s Total, Italy’s ENI and Russia’s Novatek to move forward with offsh…