New oil pipeline in Tunisia

The Kuwaiti External Oil Excavations Company will soon extend pipelines to transfer oil from the oil field of Sidi Kilani in the Mahdia province, 200 km south of the Tunisian capital, to the port of Sokhaira on the Mediterranean Coast.

The cost of the 122 kilometer long pipelines is expected to be $11 million, the pipelines are expected to be ready after 11 months to transfer 25 thousand barrels a day. The Sidi Al Kilani oil field is the third largest Tunisian oil field after the Barma and Ashtar. It produces 800 thousand tons a year which represent one third of the Tunisian oil production.

Meanwhile, statistics issued by the Ministry of Industry showed that the Tunisian production of energy resources increased during the first 6 months of the current year to reach 424 thousand tons compared to 120 thousand tons within the same period last year.

Statistics also showed that the Tunisian production of oil decreased due to the gradual renewal of the main oil fields. The statistics of the Ministry of Industry expected that Tunisian oil production will increase to reach a level between 2,700 and 4,100 million tons during the upcoming five years. Statistics also expected that the natural gas production will increase from 1,763 million cubic meters in the current year to 2,112 million cubic meters by the year 2001.