Industry, Energy and Mines has approved its decision to extend the validity of the first renewal period of the Chorbane hydrocarbon exploration licence, onshore Tunisia.

According the company, the decision is subsequent to the positive opinion of the Comité Consultatif des Hydrocarbures which was made in August 2015 to extend the duration of validity of the first renewal period of the Licence by two years.

The duration has now been extended till July 12, 2017 and it however, grants Gulfsands (the operator with 100% working interest), a least work commitment of 200km of 2D seismic and an exploration well.

“We are pleased to receive the ratification of the 2-year extension for the Chorbane Licence as this increases the attractiveness of the block to those potential joint venture partners who have reviewed the technical data and expressed an interest in farming into the licence”, Alastair Beardsall, Chairman of Gulfsands said.

The Chorbane hydrocarbon exploration licence is an onshore permit which covers an area of 1,940 km² in Central Tunisia near the port city of Sfax. Gulfsands, has pointed out drillable prospects for light oil and wet gas and estimates its net prospective resource reservations for the permit to be about 44.2 million boe, Energy-pedia reports.