Tunisian Authority Renews Circle Oil’s Exploration Permit
Ireland-headquartered Circle Oil announced that the Tunisian Authority approved its application to renew the exploration permit on the Mahdia block.
‘The Permit is being extended for three years until 19 January 20181 and Circle Oil, as operator, currently has a 100% working interest in the Permit’ reads a note released on Wednesday.
Circle Oil describes itself as company focused on ‘a combination of low-risk, near-term production’ in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt.
The Mahdia permit offshore Tunisia covers an area of 3,024km2, and contains the El Mediouni structure which was drilled by Circle's EMD-1 well in August 2014. According to Circle Oil, several companies already voiced their intention to take a stake in the project.
"Circle Oil wishes to place on record our thanks to the Tunisian Consultative Committee on Hydrocarbons. We look forward to continuing to work with them with the aim of delivering a project which would bring considerable benefit to the people of Tunisia and to Circle. We will now move forward with the process of identifying a suitable partner or partners to work with us to realise the value of this exciting discovery” Mitch Flegg, CEO Circle Oil commented.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Tunisia said it would reopen its airspace to flights to and from Libya as safety standards in its neighbour's airports had allegedly improved. Tunis’ decision had to do with the instability in Libya and it remains unclear whether the U-turn is related to a changed assessment of the security situation in Libya.
Last month, Canada-based Serinus Energy resumed production at the Sabria Field in Tunisia, after more than a month-long break due to local protests.