Project Profile

Location: Gulf of Gabes, Republic of Tunisia
Contingent resources: ~ 34 million barrels
Production: 600, 1,200 and 1,800 barrels of oil per day
Area: 1.0 million acres


The 1 million-acre Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit is located within a hydrocarbon fairway that trends from offshore Libya, through the Gulf of Gabes, to onshore Tunisia and includes several major oil and gas fields. The Sfax permit is bordered by producing oil and natural gas fields to the west, north and east, including the 330 million-barrel Ashtart oil field adjacent to the southeast boundary. Over the past 40 years, previous operators drilled and flow-tested oil from three separate structures on the Sfax permit at daily equivalent rates of 600, 1,200 and 1,800 barrels of oil per day. At that time, the operators considered these structures sub-economic and the wells were abandoned. Gaffney Cline and Associates, at the request of APEX and its partner, conducted an independent review of the exploration potential of the Sfax Offshore Permit. On October 5, 2007 GCA rendered an opinion that stated succinctly that two of the six fault segments mapped by APEX were believed commercially productive, containing Contingent Resources of nearly 34 million barrels of oil having a Net Present Value (PV10) of US$200 million.

In July 2003, the Tunisian government awarded the Sfax Offshore Prospecting Licence to EII and Atlas Petroleum Exploration Worldwide Ltd. (APEX), a subsidiary of Gaither Petroleum Corporation of Houston, Texas. The licence was converted to an exploration permit in June 2005 with a commitment to undertake seismic work and to drill one exploration well prior to December 9, 2009. The REB3 well was drilled in 2008 and satisfied the drilling commitment for the permit. Subsequently, the partners requested and were granted a two-year extension taking the permit’s primary term to December 8, 2011. Formal gazetting of the extension is expected to occur in the near future. The extension requires that one new exploration well be drilled prior to the permit’s expiry. DNO International has agreed a farm-in deal for the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit. The agreement will see the deal will see it get an 87.5% interest in both the permit and the concession from Atlas Petroleum Exploration Worldwide. The Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit is located offshore Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabes.


Operators:

DNO International (Tunisia): Operator with 52.5% interest

Petrogas E&P Tunisia BV (wholly-owned subsidiary of Petrogas E&P LLC): 35% interest

Eurogas International Inc. and Atlas Petroleum Exploration Worldwide Ltd.: 12.5% interest


Contractors:

Gaffney Cline and Associates: Conduct an independent review of the exploration potential of the whole permit