Workers on the Israeli Tamar gas-processing rig some 25 kilometers off the Israeli southern coast of Ashkelon. Noble Energy and Delek are the main partners in the gas field, estimated to contain 10 trillion cubic feet of gas. June 23, 2014. Photo: Moshe Shai / Flash90.

Lebanon‘s President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday that France-based oil and gas company, Total Energies, could help his country solve maritime demarcation issues with Israel, according to a post from the presidency office on Twitter.

Aoun would make “contacts to help in this regard, will increase communications this month”, the office added.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in US-mediated negotiations to delineate a shared maritime border that would help determine which oil and gas resources belong to which country and pave the way for more exploration.

Amos Hochstein, the US diplomat mediating the talks, will be in Beirut at the end of the week to follow up on discussions with the Lebanese side.

Deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab said after a meeting with Aoun that Hochstein’s visit “does not mean that it carries the final solution, but it is an additional positive step towards the solution”, the presidency office said.