La compañía británica Chariot anuncia un descubrimiento “significativo” de gas en Marruecos

Chariot, a British company operating in Morocco, said it has made a "significant" gas discovery off Larache, a port enclave in the northwest of the North African country. 

Following appraisal and exploration work on the "Anchovy-2" well within the "Anchovy" gas project under the Lixus licence, the British company discovered high-quality gas reserves, as reported by L'Economiste. 

"The Anchovy-2 well was drilled safely and efficiently to a total measured depth of 2,512 metres by the Stena Don platform in the water," the company said officially, adding that a full evaluation of the well was carried out through wireline logging, including petrophysical evaluation logs, subsurface formation tests, including reservoir pressures and gas sampling, as well as sidewall tests.

"Preliminary interpretation of the data confirms the presence of significant gas accumulations in the appraisal and exploration targets of the Anchovy-2 well, with a calculated net gas layer of more than 100 metres, compared to the previous year's gas layer," the company explained, as reported by L'Economiste. 

Chariot has a 75% stake in the Lixus licence in partnership with Morocco's National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines, which holds the remaining 25%. The British company focuses on transitional energy projects across Africa. Precisely, the African continent will continue to see significant population growth in the coming decades and energy demand will also increase there, making it an attractive market for other foreign companies, such as Chariot.

Several studies recently carried out by various oil and gas companies have determined a significant presence of natural gas in Morocco's subsoil. Recent discoveries have indicated that the North African nation has several sedimentary basins on land and at sea that allow the accumulation of gas, an energy source that can be exploited by Morocco to improve its supplies and become more energy self-sufficient. 

Abdellah Mouttaqi, secretary general of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines, referred a few weeks ago to these geological and geophysical studies that have been carried out in the country for several decades. "Morocco has several onshore and offshore sedimentary basins whose geology has allowed the genesis of different petroleum systems that could potentially be favourable to the accumulation of gas deposits," Abdellah Mouttaqi explained.

The new government of Aziz Akhannouch is boosting the activity of these energy companies and has even offered various economic benefits to oil and gas companies that have sought to invest in Morocco. For example, a ten-year corporate tax exemption was introduced, in addition to other fiscal advantages such as not having to pay VAT, trade tax and other tariffs. Land has also been offered for sale or lease at very competitive prices for the exploration of energy resources on an exclusive basis. 

Mouttaqi, in an interview with Challenge, spoke of the different areas where these energy resource exploration activities are taking place. One of them is the Gharb Basin, a region in the northwest of the nation. Several natural gas deposits have been discovered there that can be used, although they are smaller in size than normal. Despite this, the secretary of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines stated that "they are economically interesting and profitable thanks to the existence on the ground of an important network of gas pipelines, as well as the proximity of several industries in the province of Kenitra". The secretary general of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines also affirmed that several sites are already in production and have been connected to the national pipeline network for gas distribution. 

Work is also underway in the areas of Essaouira, Guersif, Zag, Boudnib and Missour. In addition, it is worth noting the position of the British company Sound Energy, whose subsidiary currently holds the Tendrara gas concession, located in the east of the Alaouite kingdom.