Panoro Energy ASA agreed to acquire Beender Tunisia Petroleum Ltd.’s 40% stake in Sfax Petroleum Corp. AS (SPC) for $18.2 million in cash and shares.
SPC, through subsidiaries, indirectly owns a 49% interest in the producing TPS assets which comprise five oil field concessions in the region of the city of Sfax, onshore and offshore shallow water Tunisia, and an 87.5% interest in the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit (SOEP) offshore Tunisia.
Prior to the acquisition, Panoro's effective ownership of SPC stood at 60% (29.4% interest in the TPS assets and 52.5% interest in SOEP). Post acquisition, Panoro's ownership of SPC will increase to 100% (49% in the TPS assets and 87.5% interest in SOEP) and SPC will be a fully owned subsidiary of Panoro.
“The TPS assets are long-life, low-cost oil fields with a stable production history and significant volumes of oil yet to be recovered while the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit holds three oil discoveries and numerous identified prospects and leads in the vicinity of existing infrastructure,” said John Hamilton, chief executive officer of Panoro.
The TPS Assets comprise oil field concessions Cercina, Cercina Sud, Rhemoura, El Ain/Gremda, and El Hajeb/Guebiba.
Discovered in the 1980s and early 1990s, the fields have produced over 60 million bbl of oil to date. Current production is stable at rates over 4,000 b/d of oil. About 50 wells have been drilled in the TPS fields to date. Some have been abandoned, 12 remain on production, with seven wells currently shut-in awaiting workovers or reactivation. Three wells are used for disposal of produced water. Production infrastructure consists of various wellhead installations, connected via intra-field pipelines to processing, storage, and transportation systems. Crude is transported to a storage and export terminal about 70 km south of the assets at La Skhira.
SPC indirectly owns a 49% interest in the fields and a 50% interest in the TPS operating company. In 2022, gross production at the TPS assets averaged 4,232 b/d of oil. Panoro believes production could be restored to historic levels of 6,000 b/d of oil.
The SOEP, containing the Ras El Besh concession, lies in the Cretaceous and Eocene carbonate platforms of the Pelagian basin offshore Tunisia. The permit is operated by Panoro Tunisia Exploration AS. There are three oil discoveries on the permit, Salloum, Ras El Besh, and Jawahra, with gross recoverable oil estimated to be about 20 million bbl. In Gross unrisked prospective resources are estimated at 250 million bbl.
