Upland Identifies Tunisian Leads

London-listed junior Upland Resources has identified 15 leads and prospects after interpreting vintage exploration data at the Saouaf licence area in Tunisia, the company reported on February 15.

Upland acquired the licence in 2019, and works there in a joint venture with the Tunisian National Oil Co (Etap). In a statement, the company said its multidisciplinary interpretation work on past data over the last few months was "giving the first fruits." The 15 leads have been identified and mapped in a number of plays, namely the Eocene, Cretaceous, Jurassic and Pre-Salt layers.

"The best-defined structure is a prospect named Pyrite, which is part of a large isolated carbonate platform developed at Lower Cretaceous-Jurassic level," Upland said. "This prospect is defined by thirteen seismic lines of good quality, most of which have been acquired in 2006 or in 2012 and reprocessed in 2013 by a previous operator."

Upland estimated Pyrite's P50 prospective resources at 1.1 trillion ft³ of gas. The chance of success at the prospect is currently estimated to be 22%, it said.

"Pyrite is a large independent closure being part of a wide ring of carbonate build-ups of Early Cretaceous age (Ressas formation), which has been growing on top of a carbonate platform of Jurassic age (Nara formation)," Upland explained. "The top seal is represented by the shale-dominated Sidi Khalif and M'Cherga formations, which cap the carbonate build-up."

Another very large lead named Halite was found at the sub-salt level, and two other structures, Gelena and Marcasite, were found close to Pyrite in the same Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous play.

Interpretation work will continue, Upland said, noting its 2021 work programme was aimed at de-risking exploration, by reprocessing vintage seismic lines, and multidisciplinary geological and geochemical studies. Upland can now market its findings to potential farminees, it said.