Sonde, Viking Extend Farm-Out Deadline for Offshore Tunisia Block

Canada’s Sonde Resources Corp., has entered into an agreement with Viking Energy North Africa Limited to extend the deadline for meeting the conditions precedent under the Farm-Out Agreement that includes obtaining the consent of Joint Oil to the transfer of a 66.67% interest in the Joint Oil Block, offshore Tunisia, pursuant to the previously announced farm-out agreement to June 7, 2013.

To date, the Company and Viking have held a series of discussions and exchanged correspondence with Joint Oil regarding the proposed farm-out and the conditions upon which Joint Oil would be prepared to provide its approval.

“Some of the conditions imposed by Joint Oil are acceptable to the Company and Viking, while others are not. The Company does not believe that the outstanding conditions are supportable under the terms and conditions of the Exploration Production Sharing Agreement and the parties are continuing to seek an acceptable resolution of these issues. While the Company believes that the farm-out should be approved on its merits, no assurance can be given that Joint Oil will approve it or that the farm-out will close. Additionally, there can be no assurance that Viking will agree to a further extension of time if the approval of Joint Oil is not forthcoming prior to June 7, 2013,” said Sonde Resources in a press release.

The 768,000 acre Joint Oil Block lies offshore, crossing the maritime border of Tunisia and Libya. The block lies in a rich producing area, flanked by the large El Bouri, Ashtart and Miskar fields. Sonde holds 100% operated working interest and is the sole contractor to the Joint Oil Block Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (“ESPA”) signed with Joint Oil. Joint Oil is owned 50/50 by the Government of Tunisia and the Government of Libya. The Joint Oil Block contains a large portion of the Zarat discovery, which is located in Tunisian waters, and five large identified exploration prospects as well as significant additional prospectivity.