UAE's Rak Signs Agreement with Tunisia

The UAE's Rak Petroleum said today it has signed an agreement to acquire a 30% stake in a Tunisian offshore oilfield. Rak acquired the interest in the Hammamet license from Canada-based Storm Ventures International which will retain a 35% operated interest, Reuters cited the company as saying in a statement.

Cooper Energy of Australia holds the remaining 35%. Based in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, Rak Petroleum currently has exploration operations in the UAE and Oman.

The Hammamet offshore license area is located in the Gulf of Hammamet and contains two ready to drill prospects plus several leads, said the statement. "The first well, Fushia 1, is expected to be drilled in the third quarter this year, subject to rig availability."

No details were given about the value of the deal.

"The value really depends on how much oil we find and so far in one of the structures we expect reserves of around 300 million barrels, but it could be a lot more," Shelley Watson, commercial director at Rak Petroleum, told Reuters.

Tunisia plans to raise production of hydrocarbons to 9.2 million tons in 2010 from 7.5 million last year, Afif Chelbi the country's minister of industry and technology, said.

Rak Petroleum has no other acquisitions in the pipeline at this time, Watson added.

Last year, Rak Petroleum acquired a 10% stake in Norwegian company DNO International ASA, which operates oilfields in Iraq's Kurdistan region and Yemen. - Upstream