Tunisia’s Nawara Gas Project: Too Little Too Late?

8 Mar 2019 Issue: 62 / 10 By: Aydin Calik

Tunisia’s gas output slumped to 193mn cfd for 2018, the lowest since the 2009 ramp-up of offshore production. While the long-delayed Nawara project should provide a much-needed output boost from late-2019, Tunisia will still be reliant on Algeria for over half its gas demand. Renewables aren’t going to save the day either.

Touted as the ‘umbilical cord’ of Tunisia, the much-delayed $1.2bn OMV-led Nawara Gas Project is finally due to come online towards the end of this year. But underlying decline due to lack of investment at Tunisia’s producing gas fields means the 85mn cfd that Nawara will only boost Tunisia’s overall output to around 250mn cfd – lower than it was in 2014 when FID was taken on Nawara (see chart 1).

But make no mistake, the added volumes will provide much needed relief to Tunisia which in 2018 was reliant on 371mn cfd of imports from Algeria to meet a record 66% of demand. When Nawara starts operating at nameplate capacity in 2020, this reliance will drop to a still far from comfortable 55% (see chart 2). Tunisia is reliant on gas to meet 97% of its power generation needs (MEES, 21 December 2018). (CONTINUED - 1348 WORDS)