Malta
(20% Interest)
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The Malta Joint Venture comprises Sun Resources (20%) and Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL (“Pancontinental”) (80%) on two contiguous permit areas - ESA Area 4, Block 3 and ESA Area 5 in southern Maltese waters abutting Tunisia and Libya.
Large stacked Lower Cretaceous to Eocene age reef mound prospects such as Chianti and Limoncello were delineated inside Maltese waters in 2004 by Sun Resources and Pancontinental in ESA Area 5. These have speculative reserve potential, ranging from a mean recoverable oil potential of 455 mmbo for Chianti to 968 mmbo for Limoncello. The potential estimates are comparable with neighbouring commercial giant field analogues in Libyan and Tunisian waters.
At the Maltese Government’s request, the Joint Venture suspended the seismic survey in September 2005 to assist the Maltese government in facilitating the resolution of maritime border issues it has with both Tunisia and Libya. Progress, albeit slow, continues to be made on the matter. An Agreement between Malta and Tunisia was signed on 27 February 2006 for joint oil and gas exploration and exploitation in zones of the Continental Shelf located between Malta and Tunisia which in part encompasses the western area of the ESA in Area 5. Since the agreement, Malta and Tunisia, through a joint expert committee reporting to the two country’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs, have been working on the determination of the exact coverage of the joint exploration and exploitation zone between the two countries.
Similar discussions between Malta and Libya are ongoing to resolve the southern boundary issue in the southern area of the ESA, and it is hoped that a similar agreement between Malta and Libya will be forthcoming in the very near future. Pan Continental continues to actively monitor and lobby the border situation with the Government of Malta.