(Ecofin Agency) - PA Resources AB, holding many assets in Africa, submitted to the Tunisian authorities an updated development plan, sound on the technical and commercial aspects, for the Zarat field off the coast of Tunisia, we learn on 28 July from the oil and gas company listed on the NASDAQ OMX.

The proposed plan has two development stages and was jointly prepared by teams from PA Resources and the Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (ETAP), a public oil and gas company.

It schedules the first oil production for 2020 and includes in stage 1, four production wells with processing and export installations for 20,000 barrels and 100 million standard cubic-feet of crude gas per day.

Stage 2 concerns four other wells with the increase of the installations capacities to 40,000 barrels and 200 million cubic-feet of crude gas per day.

The company indicates that it expects to start the detailed pre-project engineering phase with the authorisation of the project which would take place during 2017, immediately following the approval of the plan by the Tunisian authorities.

The Zarat field is predicted to hold viable reserves of gas condensate and oil estimated at 147 million of oil-equivalent barrels.