diff --git a/internal/orchestrator/committer.go b/internal/orchestrator/committer.go
index 1316f0e..e88a0cc 100644
--- a/internal/orchestrator/committer.go
+++ b/internal/orchestrator/committer.go
@@ -96,38 +96,62 @@ func (c *Committer) Start(ctx context.Context) {
 		c.lastCommittedBlock.Store(latestCommittedBlockNumber.Uint64())
 	}
 
+	// Initialize publisher position - always use max(lastPublished, lastCommitted) to prevent double publishing
 	lastPublished, err := c.storage.StagingStorage.GetLastPublishedBlockNumber(chainID)
 	if err != nil {
-		// It's okay to fail silently here; it's only used for staging cleanup and will be
-		// corrected by the worker loop.
-		log.Error().Err(err).Msg("failed to get last published block number")
-	} else if lastPublished != nil && lastPublished.Sign() > 0 {
-		// Always ensure publisher starts from at least the committed value
+		log.Error().Err(err).Msg("Failed to get last published block number from storage")
+		// If we can't read, assume we need to start from the beginning
+		lastPublished = nil
+	}
+
+	// Determine the correct publish position - always take the maximum to avoid going backwards
+	var targetPublishBlock *big.Int
+
+	if lastPublished == nil || lastPublished.Sign() == 0 {
+		// No previous publish position
 		if latestCommittedBlockNumber != nil && latestCommittedBlockNumber.Sign() > 0 {
-			if lastPublished.Cmp(latestCommittedBlockNumber) < 0 {
-				gap := new(big.Int).Sub(latestCommittedBlockNumber, lastPublished)
-				log.Warn().
-					Str("last_published", lastPublished.String()).
-					Str("latest_committed", latestCommittedBlockNumber.String()).
-					Str("gap", gap.String()).
-					Msg("Publisher is behind committed position, seeking forward to committed value")
-
-				c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(latestCommittedBlockNumber.Uint64())
-				if err := c.storage.StagingStorage.SetLastPublishedBlockNumber(chainID, latestCommittedBlockNumber); err != nil {
-					log.Error().Err(err).Msg("Failed to update last published block number after seeking forward")
-					// Fall back to the stored value on error
-					c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(lastPublished.Uint64())
-				}
-			} else {
-				c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(lastPublished.Uint64())
-			}
+			// Start from committed position
+			targetPublishBlock = latestCommittedBlockNumber
+		} else if c.commitFromBlock.Sign() > 0 {
+			// Start from configured position minus 1 (since we publish from next block)
+			targetPublishBlock = new(big.Int).Sub(c.commitFromBlock, big.NewInt(1))
 		} else {
-			c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(lastPublished.Uint64())
+			// Start from 0
+			targetPublishBlock = big.NewInt(0)
 		}
+
+		log.Info().
+			Str("target_publish_block", targetPublishBlock.String()).
+			Msg("No previous publish position, initializing publisher cursor")
 	} else {
-		c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(c.lastCommittedBlock.Load())
+		// We have a previous position
+		targetPublishBlock = lastPublished
+	}
+
+	// Only update storage if we're changing the position
+	if lastPublished == nil || targetPublishBlock.Cmp(lastPublished) != 0 {
+		if err := c.storage.StagingStorage.SetLastPublishedBlockNumber(chainID, targetPublishBlock); err != nil {
+			log.Error().Err(err).Msg("Failed to update published block number in storage")
+			// If we can't update storage, use what was there originally to avoid issues
+			if lastPublished != nil {
+				targetPublishBlock = lastPublished
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
+	// Store in memory for quick acess
+	c.lastPublishedBlock.Store(targetPublishBlock.Uint64())
+
+	log.Info().
+		Str("publish_from", targetPublishBlock.String()).
+		Str("committed_at", func() string {
+			if latestCommittedBlockNumber != nil {
+				return latestCommittedBlockNumber.String()
+			}
+			return "0"
+		}()).
+		Msg("Publisher initialized")
+
 	c.cleanupProcessedStagingBlocks()
 
 	if config.Cfg.Publisher.Mode == "parallel" {
@@ -290,25 +314,27 @@ func (c *Committer) getBlockNumbersToCommit(ctx context.Context) ([]*big.Int, er
 }
 
 func (c *Committer) getBlockNumbersToPublish(ctx context.Context) ([]*big.Int, error) {
-	lastestPublishedBlockNumber, err := c.storage.StagingStorage.GetLastPublishedBlockNumber(c.rpc.GetChainID())
-	log.Debug().Msgf("Committer found this last published block number in staging storage: %s", lastestPublishedBlockNumber.String())
+	// Get the last published block from storage (which was already corrected in Start)
+	latestPublishedBlockNumber, err := c.storage.StagingStorage.GetLastPublishedBlockNumber(c.rpc.GetChainID())
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get last published block number: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if lastestPublishedBlockNumber.Sign() == 0 {
-		// If no blocks have been committed yet, start from the fromBlock specified in the config
-		lastestPublishedBlockNumber = new(big.Int).Sub(c.commitFromBlock, big.NewInt(1))
-	} else {
-		lastPublished := new(big.Int).SetUint64(c.lastPublishedBlock.Load())
-		if lastestPublishedBlockNumber.Cmp(lastPublished) < 0 {
-			log.Warn().Msgf("Max block in storage (%s) is less than last published block in memory (%s).", lastestPublishedBlockNumber.String(), lastPublished.String())
-			return []*big.Int{}, nil
-		}
+	// This should never happen after Start() has run, but handle it defensively
+	if latestPublishedBlockNumber == nil || latestPublishedBlockNumber.Sign() == 0 {
+		// Fall back to in-memory value which was set during Start
+		latestPublishedBlockNumber = new(big.Int).SetUint64(c.lastPublishedBlock.Load())
+		log.Warn().
+			Str("fallback_value", latestPublishedBlockNumber.String()).
+			Msg("Storage returned nil/0 for last published block, using in-memory value")
 	}
 
-	startBlock := new(big.Int).Add(lastestPublishedBlockNumber, big.NewInt(1))
-	endBlock, err := c.getBlockToCommitUntil(ctx, lastestPublishedBlockNumber)
+	log.Debug().
+		Str("last_published", latestPublishedBlockNumber.String()).
+		Msg("Determining blocks to publish")
+
+	startBlock := new(big.Int).Add(latestPublishedBlockNumber, big.NewInt(1))
+	endBlock, err := c.getBlockToCommitUntil(ctx, latestPublishedBlockNumber)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting block to commit until: %v", err)
 	}