Morocco’s Oil Exploration Investments Surge to 1.44 Billion Dirhams in 2018

They thus reached 1.44 billion dirhams, including 30.51 million dirhams for the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), it is indicated after the meeting of its Board of Directors chaired by the Minister of Energy Aziz Rabbah. At the end of November 2018, hydrocarbon exploration covered a total area of 126,971.71 km² and had 28 onshore permits, 42 offshore permits (including 17 ONHYM), one recognition authorization and 10 exploitation concessions (including 1 ONHYM).

According to the Office, the year 2018 saw the drilling of 7 wells (5 in the Gharb basin, 4 of which are positive, 1 on Grand Tendrara and 1 offshore) and the signing of 3 new oil agreements with the companies Repsol and Shell on the Tanfit zone and Sound Energy on the Sidi Moktar Onshore and Grand Tendrara zones.

As for the volume of Algerian gas that transited via the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, it stood at 9.45 billion NM3, compared to 7.95 billion NM3 in 2017, an increase of 18.9%.