Plans by UK-minnow Panoro Energy to drill an exploration well on its Sfax permit in Tunisia this year are now firmly on the back burner. “I don’t think it’s a very near-term well to drill, I think, Covid situation in … most of Africa now is still quite live,” said Panoro chief John Hamilton in the firm’s Q1 results on 27 May. Mr Hamilton also said that the well “had been held up for quite some time now on government approvals.” Panoro had originally planned to drill the SMW-1 well, which will target the “Salloum West” prospect, in 2020. Panoro’s current output in Tunisia comes from the ‘TPS’ assets it acquired from OMV in 2018. Gross production in Q1 was highest in at least two years at 4,543 b/d on the back of “significant workover activity last year (MEES, 27 November 2020).