Petro-Canada to explore southern Tunisian block

Petro-Canada Acreage [77,614 bytes] Petro-Canada Inc., Calgary, signed an agreement with the Tunisian national oil company, Enterprise Tunisienne d'Activites Petrolières (ETAP), to jointly explore on a large and relatively unexplored block in south-central Tunisia.

April 20, 1998

Petro-Canada Acreage [77,614 bytes]

Petro-Canada Inc., Calgary, signed an agreement with the Tunisian national oil company, Enterprise Tunisienne d'Activites Petrolières (ETAP), to jointly explore on a large and relatively unexplored block in south-central Tunisia.

Petro-Canada and ETAP acquired exclusive rights to conduct geological and geophysical studies, as well as seismic reprocessing and acquisition, on the Tataouine block, covering about 1.8 million acres in the Berkine area of the Ghadames basin. This underexplored area has provided a number of substantial oil discoveries recently in adjacent areas in Algeria.

Petro-Canada is obligated to spend $5 million during the initial 2-year term of the joint agreement and has an option to extend the agreement.

Petro-Canada's exploration program in Algeria has yielded several discoveries on its 2 million acre Tinrhert block. The company is producing oil from its Tamadanet field, evaluating recent gas and condensate discoveries, and conducting further exploratory drilling on the block.