Offshore staff
DUBLIN, Ireland – Morocco’s government has awarded Europa Oil & Gas the Inezgane Offshore exploration permit in the Agadir basin.
Following receipt of a formal letter of award from the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) – expected – Europa will be assigned a 75% operated interest in the 11,228-sq km (4,335-sq mi) concession, with ONHYM holding the remaining 25%.
Europa’s focus will be on the Lower Cretaceous fan sand play that has proven prolific in other parts of West Africa.
The company said it had identified the main elements required for a working hydrocarbon system, i.e. source, reservoir and seal, within the license area, and various large structural traps on the edges and salt diapirs.
It plans to mature to drillable status some of these stacked prospects, which it believes could each hold more than 250 MMbbl, and pursue farm-in partners to share the cost of drilling during the license’s second phase.
Inezgane Offshore is in water depths of 600-2,000 m (1,968-6,562 ft). During the two-year initial phase, Europa will reprocess 1,300 sq km (502 sq mi) of 3D seismic and perform other technical studies.
It will then have the option to commit to drilling a well in the second phase or to relinquish the permit.
To date, only 10 wells have been drilled in deepwater off Morocco, the company said, of which only three have penetrated a full Lower Cretaceous section. Since the deepwater basins extend around 1,800 km (1,118 mi) offshore, the play appears to be highly under-explored, it added.
Chariot Oil & Gas, which operates Morocco’s Lixus Offshore license, which includes the Anchois gas discovery, has issued the findings of a new Competent Persons Report by Netherland Sewell & Associates.
The report has identified potential upside of more than 1.2 tcf from the offshore Maquereau N, C, and S, Tombe and Turbot prospects.
These resources (if proven), combined with Anchois and the Anchois Satellite prospects, could lift recoverable resources above 2 tcf.
09/18/2019
