Exploration and development in Tunisia continue to simmer.
The BG Tunisia Inc. unit of British Gas plc will develop Tunisia's Miskar field in the Gulf of Gabes. It is Tunisia's largest gas reserve, with reserves pegged at 1 tcf.
And Maxus Energy Corp., Dallas, signed an exploration permit covering part of northern Tunisia.
Meantime, Marathon Oil Co. reported minor shows in its 3 Belli wildcat southeast of Tunis.
MISKAR DEVELOPMENT
BG Tunisia will develop Miskar field on the Amilcar permit about 75 miles off the coast in about 220 ft of water.
An offshore production complex linked to an onshore gas processing plant at Chaffar Wadi, 15 miles south of Sfax, is expected to be on production by 1994, with peak flow of 160 MMcfd scheduled for 1995. Gas has been sold to the Tunisian electric power and gas distribution company STEG.
BG will install a drilling and production platform to accommodate an initial program of 12 wells, linked by a bridge to an accommodation and utilities platform. A 26 in. pipeline will link the field to the onshore plant.
State owned ETAP has an option to take a 20% interest in the $600 million development.
The project was made possible by an amendment to the Amilcar offshore permit covering pricing and taxation of gas.
Robert Evans, chairman and chief executive officer of British Gas, speaking at a ceremony in Tunis to sign the revised permit agreement, said the Miskar development will make Tunisia self-sufficient in gas.
"it will provide an initial infrastructure that may allow development of small or marginal fields which, without Miskar facilities, may have been uneconomic," he said.
DJEBEL OEST BLOCK
Maxus' exploration permit covers the 1.1 million acre Djebel Oest block in northern Tunisia, where it holds 100% operating interest.
The permit has a 4 year exploration term, renewable for two 2 year terms.
Maxus plans to shoot 200 line km of seismic surveys and drill one well during the initial phase.
Harvey Klingensmith, Maxus' vice-president of international exploration, said the permit came after 1 year of work putting the project together.
He noted that the block attracted interest from several companies because it is near a block where an apparent discovery has been tested recently.
Meantime, Marathon said its 3 Belli wildcat in Tunisia found minor oil shows in the Eocene Bou Dabbous, and the company is drilling ahead to upper Cretaceous Abiod chalk.
Marathon reported the Bou Dabbous in 3 Belli is about 660 ft downdip from the 1 Belli discovery well (OGJ, July 15, Newsletter). The 3 Belli is 1 1/2 miles southwest of the discovery.
Marathon's 2 Belli, 3 miles north of the discovery, found water in the Abiod chalk. It had noncommercial hydrocarbon shows in the Bou Dabbous (OGJ, Dec. 9, p. 45).
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