"JELMA" PROJECT
Exploration bloc
The Jelma bloc is located in the central west of Tunisia (Sidi Bouzid region) and covers an area of 5,772 Km2. The prospecting license was obtained by TOPIC in 2001 with a 15% interest. “Hydrocarbures Tunisie Corporation” owned 35% of interests, while the remaining 50% were owned by ETAP.
The co-holders have applied in 2003 for the transfer of the prospecting bloc into an exploration permit.
The holders have applied and obtained a first renewal period of four years beginning September 2012. So far, 5,496 Km of seismic were acquired (out of which 330 Km were acquired after TOPIC entry) and two exploratory wells were drilled. Although the permit showed oil shows during drilling, tests were not successful.
The study of the potentialities of the permit showed the existence of several important prospects. This study motivated the renewal of the validity of the permit for a period of 4 years from 26 September 2012 to 25 September 2016.
By Decree No. 54 published on the JORT on 7 July 2015 the Tunisian authorities decided that this permit is geographically located in a military zone which has put the permit on standby for force majeure.
The Order of the Minister of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies of November 18, 2016 authorized the transfer of 100% rights and obligations in the Jelma permit of the company “Hydrocarbon Tunisia Corporation” to the benefit of ETAP.
Following this sale ETAP now holds 85% of the rights and obligations on this permit and TOPIC holds the remaining 15%.
The research and exploration work carried out on the Jelma permit confirmed the existence of several prospects.
For the current validity period of the permit, the exploration program will consist of the following activities:
- Additional Seismic Acquisition of 300 km and processing of 400 km.
- Drilling campaign. This activity included:
Drilling of one exploratory well Post drilling evaluation studies.
In case of discovery, the JV company between ETAP and TOPIC will be created to develop the discovery.
