Israel expects to launch US-mediated talks within weeks with Lebanon on setting their maritime border, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday, naming a UN peacekeeper compound in southern Lebanon as a possible venue. According to Reuters, Lebanon has not commented publicly on whether it would attend talks or on any possible timeline. The United States, which has been sending David Satterfield, a senior envoy, on shuttle missions between Lebanon and Israel, also has not announced a date or venue but said it is prepared to help them resolve the dispute. Among the bridging proposals put forward by both sides was for international energy groups, operating in both Israeli and Lebanese waters, to carry out the first seismological survey of the disputed area, the Israeli official told Reuters. Last week, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel was open to US-mediated talks on the sea border. The senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that Israel expects the negotiations "will begin already in the coming weeks". Satterfield has been traveling between Israel and Lebanon to try to lower tensions, which have also stemmed from a land border dispute. The Israeli official told Reuters that if there were talks, they would address only the maritime border and not the land frontier. "In the past 10 days of Satterfields shuttling between Israel and Lebanon a number of technical issues have been discussed, like the agreement that the talks will happen at the UN facility in Naqoura in southern Lebanon and with US mediation by Satterfield," the Israeli official said. A US official told Reuters that Washington "stands ready to work towards solutions that are mutually agreeable to both parties" but declined to elaborate on Satterfields discussions. Israel is currently tendering off 19 offshore blocks to exploration and production companies, but it has avoided offering areas close to the disputed border.