Gulfsands to Quit Tunisia

AIM-listed explorer Gulfsands Petroleum is to quit Tunisia, it confirmed July 13.

"Tunisia does not fit with the company’s stated strategy and so the group’s continuing involvement in Tunisia has been dependent on finding a partner who could help it take the Chorbane project forward. The group has not been able to attract such a partner and so the group has decided not to seek a further extension and instead has allowed the contract to lapse," it said in a statement July 13.

The Chorbane onshore production sharing contract, covering 1,942 km², expired 12 July 2017, following an initial two-year extension granted in 2015, the terms of which Gulfsands disputed with Tunisian state upstream firm ETAP. Gulfsands said it will now work to complete its formal exit from Tunisia.

It retains interests in Colombia and Morocco, as well as in war-torn Syria where all but state-run production is now on ice. In Morocco, however, the company said June 21 that its quest for a partner at its 2,820 km² Moulay Bouchta onshore licence has been inconclusive and that the licence "technically expired" June 20 with certain minimum work obligations outstanding. Oil and gas prospects had been identified in the Moroccan and Tunisian acreage. This effectively leaves Gulfsands with only its two onshore exploration interests onshore Colombia with any near-term prospect of development.  

Mark Smedley