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Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Gulfsands Petroleum has extended its footprint in Morocco with the signing of a new agreement with ONHYM. The company finalized agreements for the newly created Moulay Bouchta permit, which it will operate with a 75% interest.
The permit encompasses an area of approximately 2,850 sq km and is located to the north of the company’s Rharb Sud Permit and extends eastwards to surround the western, northern, and eastern boundaries of the Fes Block onshore in northern Morocco. This area is considered to include the key remaining prospective acreage in an area where the existence of a working petroleum system has been confirmed with the discovery and development of three oil fields, the most recent of which was the Haricha Field which had produced a total of 2.8 million barrels of oil and 4.2 Bcf of gas when production ceased in 1990.
The three legacy light oil fields are known to have produced oil from shallow reservoirs down to around 1,200 meters. It is the company’s intention to evaluate the potential for deeper and potentially larger structures containing Jurassic- and Cretaceous-aged reservoirs similar to targets identified on the adjacent Fes permit.
A portion of the permit area has already been the subject of a 175-sq km 3D seismic survey and these data together with legacy 2D seismic data over other portions of the license area will be supplemented by regional seismic data previously acquired by the Gulfsands. It is anticipated that in addition to the reprocessing and interpretation of legacy 2D and 3D seismic data, an additional 500 km of 2D seismic data will be captured in a survey to be carried out during the first two-year exploration period. The company will also undertake a legacy oil field reactivation study during this first exploration period as part of a minimum exploration work program expected to cost approximately $3.5 million.
Commenting on the signing of the agreements to explore and exploit the Moulay Bouchta license area, Mahdi Sajjad, CEO said: “We are delighted to have been able to conclude these agreements with our partner ONHYM with which we have developed an excellent working relationship since we commenced working in Morocco in January last year. Our reputation as a reliable and efficient operator across the MENA region and our success in moving swiftly to commence exploration operations in Morocco no doubt contributed to ONHYM’s willingness to award this important license area to Gulfsands.
“We view this license area as prospective for oil and an important and complementary addition to our already extensive onshore portfolio and consider the award of this permit to reflect local recognition of the efforts our entire organization has made in establishing a meaningful presence in Morocco in little more than one year. We are all very much looking forward to moving forward with successful exploration programs on the more than 5,700 sq km of contiguous area that we now hold with the Fes, Moulay Bouchta and Rharb Sud permits.”
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