BEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe said that Beirut must negotiate with Syria about the demarcation of maritime borders, official media reported.

Last month, the Syrian government signed a 4-year contract with a Russian company for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea that could spark a new border crisis between Lebanon and Syria.

"Now is the right time for negotiations to demarcate maritime borders between Lebanon and Syria," Xinhua news agency quoted Wehbe as saying on Sunday.

"This is not an act of aggression but every state demands for its rights according to its perspective," Wehbe said, adding that negotiations must take place within the framework of international laws and the brotherly relations between the two countries.

Lebanese authorities did not previously react to Syria's plan to start exploration in Block No. 1 although the block set for exploration intersects with the Lebanese areas and results in a clear border dispute.

The two blocks to be explored under the new contract overlap with Lebanese maritime areas for energy exploration along the country’s northern border. 

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