Oslo-listed Panoro Energy has acquired Beender Tunisia Petroleum's 40% stake in Sfax Petroleum Corporation AS.
SPC through its subsidiaries indirectly owns a 49 percent interest in the producing TPS Assets which comprise five oil field concessions in the region of the city of Sfax, onshore and offshore shallow water Tunisia, and an 87.5 percent interest in the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit (“SOEP”) offshore Tunisia.
Panoro acquired Beender's stake for a total consideration of around $18.2 million in a mix of cash and shares.
Prior to the acquisition, Panoro’s effective ownership of SPC stood at 60 percent (29.4 percent interest in the TPS Assets and 52.5 percent interest in SOEP).
Panoro now owns 100 percent of Sfax Petroleum Corporation.
"The upfront cash consideration of USD 4.9 million cash has been paid and in accordance with the previously announced terms of the Acquisition a share based payment of USD 8.3 million will shortly be made by Panoro via the allotment and issue of 2,945,035 new Panoro shares at an issue price of NOK 29.18 per share (issue value NOK 85,936,092.12). A deferred cash consideration of USD 5 million shall be paid by end 2023," Panoro said.
Panoro said that the acquisition added an estimated 2.96 million barrels of net 2P reserves (100 percent oil) and 800 to 900 bopd of net production
The purchase also increases Panoro’s full year 2023 production guidance to 9,500 to 11,500 bopd (from 9,000 to 11,000 bopd), recognizing approximately nine months of production from completion, and increases the 2023 peak target to in excess of 13,000 bopd (previously in excess of 12,500 bopd) around year end.
Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit
According to Panoro, the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit, containis the Ras El Besh Concession, lies in the prolific oil and gas Cretaceous and Eocene carbonate platforms of the Pelagian Basin offshore Tunisia. In the vicinity of the Permit area are numerous existing producing fields with infrastructure and spare capacity in pipelines and facilities.
The Permit is operated by Panoro Tunisia Exploration AS. There are three oil discoveries on the permit, Salloum, Ras El Besh, and Jawahra, with gross recoverable oil estimated to be approximately 20 million barrels, Panoro said.
In addition to these discoveries there is considerable exploration potential in the Permit, with gross unrisked prospective resources estimated at to be around 250 million barrels, the company said.