Libya – Joint Oil, a Libyan-Tunisian company, has launched a new licensing round. The round offers exploration and development concessions. These concessions are in the territorial waters of Tunisia and Libya. An economic report confirmed this.
The concessions include the El-Zarat field. They are in the Tunisian-Libyan territorial waters. Moise & Partners, a U.S.-based firm, will be a strategic consultant for this operation. An international “Oil & Gas” news site published this report.
The offshore concession area is in the Sabratha-Gabes Basin. This basin is in the central Mediterranean Sea. It offers a key opportunity for cross-border energy cooperation. This cooperation is between Tunisia and Libya. Moise & Partners will oversee data verification, evaluation, and marketing.
The bidding round will cover two commercial opportunities. One involves continued exploration. This is under a production-sharing and exploration agreement. The second involves developing the El-Zarat field discovery. This falls under another production-sharing and development agreement. The area spans approximately 3,000 square kilometers. Water depths range from 80 to 120 meters.
Current seismic coverage totals 6,500 kilometers of 2D data. It also includes 1,900 kilometers of 3D data. Several wells were previously drilled in this area. These wells include Dhahur-1, Amal South-1, Amal North-1, and El-Zarat-1. The area is close to several producing fields in Libya and Tunisia.
These nearby fields include Bouri, Al-Juruf, Bahr Essalam, Hasdrubal, Ashtart, Miskar, and Didon. Joint Oil will develop this area as a unified gas and oil resource. This will be part of a framework. The framework includes a unitization agreement. It also includes a unit operating agreement. An operational services contract is also part of it.
The new bidding round will officially open on August 1. It will continue until November 30. Companies with offshore exploration and development capabilities are invited. They can access a virtual data room. Moise & Partners manages this data room.
Bids must be submitted by December 1 of this year. Winning companies will be notified by January 31, 2027. The official award announcement is scheduled for March 31 next year.