Anchois well offshore Morocco targets expanded gas resource

The Stena Forth drillship has spud the Anchois East (Anchois-3) well for the Anchois gas field project offshore Morocco, operated by Energean.

Partner Chariot says drilling and flow testing operations should last about two months.

This is a multi-objective well; an initial pilot hole is being drilled to assess the potential of the Anchois Footwall prospect in an undrilled fault block to the east of the main field. The partnership is targeting a prospective resource of 170 Bcf in the main O sand.

A side-track will follow to intersect and further evaluate proven gas sands in the eastern part of the main fault block of the field (estimated 2C resource of 637 Bcf).

Next, the well will penetrate the deeper Anchois North Flank prospect, with an additional 2U resource of 213 Bcf, and will also de-risk the nearby Anchois South Flank prospect (2U resource estimated at 372 Bcf).

Finally, Stena Forth will conduct a flow test on certain encountered gas sands to examine reservoir and well productivity. The well will then be suspended for use as a potential future producer.

Chariot CEO Adonis Pouroulis said, “We see significant upside potential…which could increase the resource base to over 1 Tcf, and we look forward, on success, to moving towards a final investment decision as quickly as possible."