Summary:

On 14 August 2024, Canadian energy firm, Zenith Energy, said it expects to resume crude oil production by 19 August after work stoppages caused by delayed salary payments.  

The company blamed these delays on the non-payment of past-productions by The Tunisian National Oil Company (ETAP) and the “arbitrary obstructions” of sales of its crude oil by Tunisian authorities. 

The company said that 11,500 barrels of crude oil are to be sold by October after the resolution of the issues. The company’s statement also indicated that 90 barrels per day will be produced post resolution of the payment issue. 

Zenith Energy previously initiated a case in Paris against Tunisia in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and launched a separate case in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, DC (ICSID). The cumulative amount claimed by the Canadian company stands at US$140 million.  

The ICC had already issued a conservative seizure of US$6.5 million deposited in a bank account under the name of ETAP in Switzerland. The ICC arbitration case will be finalized during the first trimester of 2025 while the ICSID case will be concluded in 2027. 

Outlook: 

Apart from the financial loses that will result for Tunisia from the cases launched by Zenith, the country continues to risk its international reputation among foreign investors because of administrative bureaucracy. 

Zenith purchased its concessions from other foreign companies like the Canadian Candax and the Chinese National Petroleum Company which had previously fled the bureaucratic obstructions present in Tunisia. With the obstacles facing Zenith these last years, it is expected that the firm will seek to quit the country after the resolution of these arbitration cases. 

The Tunisian government did launch an internal project to inventory all administrative hurdles facing private investors, but concrete remedies are yet to come and will continue to be a deterrent to entry for the foreseeable future. 

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