Interactive Investors
By Alliance
LONDON (Alliance News) – Upstream gas company Sound Energy PLC said Monday it has been awarded an eight-year petroleum agreement at onshore Sidi Moktar in central Morocco.
Sound has been granted the agreement by Morocco’s National Office for Hydrocarbons & Mines, the country’s regulator for petroleum operations, and is subject to approval from the energy and finance ministries.
The Sidi Moktar agreement covers an area across and beyond permits formerly known as Sidi Moktar Nord, Sud, and Ouest. The new agreement, Sound said, covers 4,499 square kilometres and will be named Sidi Moktar Onshore, split into Sidi Moktar I, Sidi Moktar II, and Sidi Moktar III.
Sound will hold 75% of the project, with the rest being held by Morocco’s petroleum regulator.
Work will be split into three phases. The initial period of 30 months will include acquiring 500 square kilometres of 2D seismic data, short well testing Koba-1, and abandoning it if necessary, along with Kamar-1. Sound re-entered and tested Koba-1 in 2017.
There will then be a first optional period of three years including work on one exploration well with a minimum Liassic, or early Jurassic, objective, as well as acquiring and processing 150 square kilometres of 3D seismic data.
Sound would then embark on a second optional complimentary period of 30 months involving a further exploration well with a minimum Liassic objective.
At the end of November, Sound said a study suggested a potential best case scenario of 8.9 trillion cubic feet of gas at Sidi Moktar. The high case is 11.2 trillion cubic feet and low case 6.7 trillion cubic feet.
Sound emphasised that Sidi Moktar was close to existing infrastructure and gas demand. This includes a large-scale OCP phosphate plant owned by the government of Morocco.
Shares were up 2.2% on Monday morning at 47.68 pence each.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
