The port of Skhira is a strategic infrastructure for the delivery of crude oil from Tunisia and Algeria’s neighbour.
In concession since 1958, it should benefit from a new master plan for development, which requires a review of the texts governing its operation.
The regulatory framework governing the management of the oil port of Skhira in Sfax governorate is expected to be reviewed in the coming weeks, TAP reports, citing Transport and Logistics Minister Moez Chakchouk.
Speaking before Parliament, the Minister revealed that the concession granted to the Sahara Pipeline Transport Company (TRAPSA) has already expired for 13 years. Indeed, the management of the platform was awarded to TRAPSA under a 50-year operating concession beginning in 1958.
Logically, this concession ended in 2008. To clarify this situation, instructions were given to the Office of the Merchant Marine and Ports (OMMP) “to clarify the legal aspects relating to the operation of this port and to allow the company to operate it as part of a new concession.”
The oil port of Skhira, open to maritime traffic every day 24 hours a day, is operated mainly for the evacuation of part of the crude oil production of south-eastern Algeria as well as the production of crude oil from Tunisian deposits.
Located 350 km from the capital Tunis, it has an important crude oil storage infrastructure and refined petroleum products, as well as loading and unloading pipelines.
With its 15-metre draught and 2,800-metre pier, it allows the simultaneous berthing of two oil vessels and a chemist.
Last year, the Ministry of Industry initiated a study on the master plan for the development of this port, which has a logistics area of 2,000 hectares.
