Petroleum Africa
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Monday, February 4, 2019
Panoro Energy revealed that it is making material progress on the Thyna Petroleum Services (TPS) assets, recently acquired from OMV, and the Sfax Offhore Permit (SOEP). At TPS, immediate production opportunities have been indentified which should increase the exitisting daily oupput in the short-term, while further opportunities exist to increase the reserve base of the TPS assets.
The company went on to say that in parallel with the above, Panoro and Tunisian Authorities have come to a constructive and mutually beneficial arrangement regarding the renewal of the SOEP.
Panoro Tunisia Production now holds a 49% indirect interest in five oil producing concessions. Panoro Tunisia’s JV partner, state firm ETAP, holds the remaining 51%.
Highly experienced members of the expanded Panoro team have now been appointed and seconded to perform the Deputy General Manager and Development Manager roles within TPS, the long-standing Tunisian based operating company for the five oil producing concessions.
Initial focus is on successful transition, integration and prioritization of both near and medium-term production growth opportunities.
The highest impact near term opportunity is the resumption of production at the El Ain field. The El Ain field is located in the Gremda concession, which legally expired in December 2018, and where the wells have been shut in for over a year. Panoro and ETAP have applied for a new concession and are currently planning the resumption of production from the two existing wells immediately after formal authorization from the Tunisian Authorities to continue operations, pending formal ratification of the new concession. A workover unit is on site and long lead items necessary to bring the wells back on stream have been procured.
Other initiatives include production improvements on individual wells and facility upgrades to remove potential bottlenecks and improve recovery efficiency. Medium term initiatives include side tracks and an enhanced water injection program at the Guebiba field, where Panoro believes reserves and production could be materially increased.
Panoro believes the near-term opportunities could provide a significant production uplift of up to 15-20% during 2019 compared to the recent 4,000 bpd gross averaged during December 2018. The timing of the operational activity and associated production is currently under review and further updates will be provided at Panoro’s Q4 results in late February.
Panoro reports that its subsidiary Panoro Tunisia Exploration has reached mutually acceptable arrangements with the Tunisian Directorate General of Hydrocarbons regarding the permit renewal terms for SOEP, with the current first renewal period having expired on December 8, 2018.
Panoro has been in extensive discussions with the Tunisian Authorities regarding the terms and timing of drilling the well previously committed by the previous owner DNO under the current first renewal period.
As a precondition to the entry into a 2nd renewal period for an additional three years period, Panoro has agreed to fulfil the outstanding drilling obligation as soon as practically possible.
Consequently, and as previously announced, Panoro is proposing to drill the Salloum West-1 well (‘SAMW-1’) in order to fully satisfy the commitment well. Panoro is currently working closely with its partner ETAP regarding the technical program and the formalisation of drilling plans including, but not limited to, the well planning, location and approvals for drilling and testing.
The primary target of the SAMW-1 well is the Bireno formation, at approximately 3,200 vertical meters depth, where Panoro has identified, on 2D and 3D seismic data, what it believes to be an independent block located west of the discovered Salloum structure. The SAMW-1 well will target an independent fault compartment up-dip from the Salloum-1 well, which was drilled by British Gas in 1992 and tested the Bireno formation at a rate of 1,846 bpd.
The objective of the SAMW-1 well is to prove up additional resources in the vicinity of the Salloum-1 well and to aggregate them in order to fast-track the development of Salloum through a tie-in to existing adjacent oil infrastructure. Therefore, following successful drilling, options are now being considered for bringing the SAMW-1 well on stream as an extended well test.
The DGH has also advised that the Tunisian Consultative Hydrocarbons Committee (the “CCH”) has required Panoro Exploration to post a bank guarantee in relation to the drilling operations on SOEP, which will be released at successive operational stages commencing with the spudding of the well, on track during 2019. Accordingly, Panoro Exploration has procured a bank guarantee for the gross amount of $16.6 million ($10 million net to Panoro).
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