Last August, geological work and interpretation of available data (geology, 2D and 3D seismic and old wells) identified several prospects whose potential resources are estimated by the company at 2 billion barrels, according to a communication from the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM). On April 13, 2022, Europa Oil & Gas published its interim results of the exploration process for the six-month period ending January 31, 2022. These results indicate that Inzegane represents a high impact exploration opportunity in an under-explored region of the world.
“A recent assessment identified a significant volume of safely recoverable resources in excess of 1 billion barrels (oil equivalent) in the top five ranked prospects alone,” the same source states. This is equivalent to one hundred and seven billion dollars (USD) of oil wealth (estimated on 107 USD, the price of a barrel of oil) which is almost the GDP of Morocco, which in 2020 was 112.9 billion USD.
Europa Oil & Gas thus notes that Morocco offers a very attractive investment opportunity with excellent fiscal conditions. That said, caution is always called for when making such announcements, whose motives are as variable as they are nebulous. Especially since the final results have not yet been released, despite the fact that Simon Oddie, CEO of the British company had said after obtaining the research permit Inezgane, that “Morocco is on the same geological line as recent discoveries in West Africa in recent years,” making the potential even more promising.
In a presentation on Wednesday before the Committee on Infrastructure, Energy, Mining and Environment at the House of Representatives, the Director General of ONHYM, Amina Benkhadra stressed that the partners of the Office plan to map 1,150 km and 650 km2 of 2D and 3D seismic and the drilling of 27 wells, including 4 offshore between the period between 2022 and 2024, according to the forecast program of exploration work of the Office.
SDX Energy will carry out the drilling of 13 wells in the onshore areas south of Lalla Mimouna, Western Gharb, Sebou and west of Moulay Bouchta, in addition to mapping 150 km2 of 3D seismic, while Bell and Forpetro will drill two wells in Haha.
For its part, Predator gas plans to drill 3 wells and map 200 km2 of 3D seismic, while Sound Energy will carry out the drilling of 5 wells in Anoual, Grand Tendrara and Sid L’Moukhtar, in addition to 300 km2 of 3D seismic and 500 km of 2D seismic, as well as obtained the authorization to operate Tendrara and the realization of a small station of liquefied natural gas
In the maritime areas, Ms. Benkhadra said that Chariot Oil & Gas will carry out the processing and mapping of 1,000 km of 2D seismic in Rissana, while Hunt oil will drill a well in Mogador, Europa Oil and Gas a well in Inezgane as mentioned at the beginning of the article, while ENI and Qatar Petroleum will carry out the drilling of two wells in Tarfaya.
In addition, ONHYM intends to re-process and interpret 1250 km of 2D seismic in the Zag basin, she added.
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