Offshore Magazine
EDINBURGH, UK – Cairn Energy plans to acquire 3D seismic this year on its Cap Juby Maritime license offshore southern Morocco.
The company became operator with a 37.5% interest following its acquisition earlier this year of London-based Nautical Petroleum. Other partners are Moroccan state oil company, Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) (25%), and Barrus Petroleum (37.5%).
Water depths range from 100-1,500 m (328-4,921 ft). The license spans an area of 5,600 sq km (2,162 sq mi) and contains the Cap Juby heavy oil accumulation and other oil plays in Mesozoic sequences.
Aside from the new seismic data, Cairn aims to reprocess older data to target deeper, light oil objectives. Evaluation could lead to future drilling.
Recently, Cairn agreed to take an aggregate 50% interest from San Leon Energy, Serica Energy, and Longreach Oil and Gas in the adjacent Foum Draa block, in water depths of 500-2,000 m (1,640-6,561 ft).
Two sizeable prospects have been identified. Timing of the first exploration well is 4Q 2013 at the earliest, pending the securing of a suitable drilling rig and regulatory approvals.
9/21/2012
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