The governorate of Sfax and its offshore maritime areas have 13 gas fields including 12 under operation.  These fields are held by oil companies from 8 different nationalities.

Sfax ranks first in the field of gas production, with a rate exceeding 70% of the national production, and second in oil production with 25%, reflecting thus its important role in the hydrocarbon sector in Tunisia and the contribution of its sub-soil to meeting the needs of the local market and those of the investors.

The most important gas fields:

Miskar: the first gas field in Tunisia held by the British company, BG Tunisia. The daily production of this field, located offshore about 120 km away from the coastline of Sfax Governorate, represents over 45 % of domestic gas production.

 Ashtart: a field of liquid hydrocarbon, located 76 km away from the coastline of the governorate of Sfax. Its daily production is about 10% of the domestic production of oil.  A plan of further development is underway by the owners to improve its production capacity.

Didon: a marine field located 150 km away from the Sfax coastline. Its daily production capacity is about 9% of the domestic production of oil. A Swedish holder  has invested during the last 5 years around $ 500 million Tunisian dinars for drilling  5 oil wells  and installing a fixed platform.

Exploration Activities:

The governorate of Sfax is covered by 8 exploration licenses and a prospector license. These licenses are held by 9 different companies of different nationalities.

The area occupied by the activities of the 9 licensees is about 26 000 km ², more than 21% of the total onshore and offshore areas in Tunisia.

The activity of exploration is important in this region. In late 2009, it resulted , in the acquisition of 20,990 km of 2D seismic areas and 7,437 Km² of 3D areas, in addition to drilling over 61 exploration wells with total expenses exceeding $ 930 M.

Licences with current validity: