Petroleum Africa
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Panoro Energy announced that it has entered into an agreement which will see it acquire a stake in five oil field concessions in the region of the city of Sfax, onshore and offshore shallow water Tunisia, and an 87.5 percent interest in the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit (SOEP) offshore Tunisia.
A definitive agreement was signed with Beender Tunisia Petroleum Limited (TPL) to acquire its 40 percent shareholding in Sfax Petroleum Corporation (SPC) for a total consideration of approximately $18.2 million in a mix of cash and shares. SPC through its subsidiaries, indirectly owns a 49 percent interest in the aforementioned producing TPS Assets.
Prior to the Acquisition, Panoro’s effective ownership of SPC stood at 60 percent (29.4 percent interest in TPS Assets and 52.5 percent interest in SOEP). Post acquisition, Panoro’s ownership of SPC will increase to 100 percent (49 percent interest in the TPS Assets and 87.5 percent interest in SOEP) and SPC will be a fully owned subsidiary of Panoro.
John Hamilton, CEO of Panoro, commented: “This is a compelling and accretive transaction for Panoro that is aligned with our growth strategy. The Acquisition materially increases our interest in the producing TPS Assets, where we have built a deep understanding through our role as joint operator alongside the Tunisian national oil company ETAP since 2018, and the prospective Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit. 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. Beender have been a highly valued minority partner for several years and we now welcome them as Panoro shareholders.”
Julien Balkany, Chairman of Panoro, added: “We are very pleased to complete this complementary acquisition of almost 3 million barrels of oil of 2P reserves and net daily production of 800-900 bopd. We welcome the opportunity to expand our position in Tunisia and to increase our net exposure to our TPS existing producing assets with minimal additional G&A costs. The attractive purchase price means this value driven acquisition shall be immediately accretive and is consistent with Panoro’s strategic vision whilst remaining fully committed to maintain our current shareholder returns policy.”
About The TPS Assets
The TPS Assets comprise five oil field concessions in the region of the city of Sfax, onshore and shallow water offshore Tunisia. The concessions are Cercina, Cercina Sud, Rhemoura, El Ain/Gremda and El Hajeb/Guebiba.
The oil fields were discovered in the 1980’s and early 1990’s and have produced over 60 million barrels of oil to date. Current production is stable at rates in excess of 4,000 barrels of oil per day. Approximately 50 wells have been drilled in the TPS fields to date, whilst some of these wells 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 facilities consist of the 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 percent interest in the fields and a 50 percent interest in the TPS operating company. In 2022 gross production from the TPS Assets averaged 4,232 bopd. Panoro sees opportunities to restore production to historic levels of 6,000 bopd gross.
About The SOEP
The SOEP, containing the Ras El Besh Concession, lies in the prolific oil and gas Cretaceous and Eocene carbonate platforms of the Pelagian Basin offshore Tunisia. In the vicinity of the Permit area are numerous existing producing fields with infrastructure and spare capacity in pipelines and facilities.
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 approximately 20 million barrels.
In addition to these discoveries there is considerable exploration potential in the Permit, with gross unrisked prospective resources estimated to be around 250 million barrels.
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