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Tunisia 'lining up new finds'



By Upstream staff 

Tunisia aims to boost oil and gas output thanks to new discoveries that will help the north African country meet growing energy demand, a senior energy official said today.

Tunisia produced more than 90,000 barrels of oil per day in 2006, up from 75,000 bpd in 2005, Khaled Becheikh, president and general director of state-controlled energy company Etap said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Ravenna.

"We have new discoveries which will add maybe more than 20,000 bpd this year," Becheikh said.

He said a new gas project in Hasdrubal, being developed together with British energy group BG , would boost the existing 1.5 billion cubic metres annual natural gas output by "about two thirds".

First gas is expected in September 2009, he said, Reuters reported.

Tunisia estimates that its oil and gas demand will grow by an average of 5% a year from now to 2030 and the country has started seeking new resources abroad to meet the increasing demand of a growing economy, Becheikh said.

"The government has decided to go overseas to renew reserves," he said, adding that Etap's international arm has started evaluating on-shore energy projects in Mauritania.

Etap also has two exploration and production joint ventures - Numhyd with Algeria's state energy giant Sonatrach and Joint Oil with Libya's national oil corporation.

Numhyd has a permit for an onshore block in Algeria and an offshore block permit in Tunisia.

Joint Oil has an exploration permit for a common offshore block and has been seeking a third partner, Becheikh said.

He said Tunisia has improved its fiscal regime and introduced production-sharing agreements to attract foreign investments in its energy sector.

Italy's Eni is its largest foreign partner in oil and BG is the major gas partner.

"We are also in discussions with Repsol and Shell ," Becheikh said without giving details of the talks.

Wednesday, 28 March, 2007, 17:12 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 28 March, 2007, 19:50 GMT

Saddling up: Tunisia aims to add 20,000 bpd of oil output this year
 

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