Onshore Blocks III and VII Awarded to Total/Petro-Canada and HBS of Tunisia Respectively

摘要

The Ministry of Petroleum and General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) have issued successive statements announcing the award of onshore Blocks VII and III, which were offered to the industry along with six other tracts in a bid round launched in early 2010. The first was assigned to the Tunisian company HBS International Ltd. and the second to a consortium composed of Total and Petro-Canada. The Oil Minister, Mr. Soufian Allao, had disclosed in March that only four of the blocks offered had attracted bids, namely Blocks III, V, VII and XII. The Ministry and GPC added that negotiations were now going to begin with the companies concerned over the terms of the exploration and production-sharing agreements (EPSAs), with a view to their being signed shortly.