Major discovery in northeastern Morocco
Lone Star Energy finds 1.5-2 billion boe 200 km from Algerian border in the Sidi Belkacem Prospect
By Dev George
Managing Editor, Oil and Gas Online
Morocco's King Mohammed VI made the jubilant announcement and Arabic-language newspapers such as Assharq al Awsat headlined a huge petroleum discovery in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco—an important discovery well had been drilled on Block III of the Talsinnt Permit in the Sidi Belkacem Prospect by Lone Star Energy, and large reserves of both oil and gas have been found.
The North Africa Journal noted that the discovery is significant because it confirms the petroleum system and the potential of the Triassic and Jurassic age sediments in the region.
It was Lone Star's first exploration well in Morocco, even though the company, an associated Moroccan-based company of US operator, Skidmore Energy, Inc., even though Lone Star is Morocco's largest concession holder with three onshore concessions and one offshore, with a total of some 27,520 sq km.
Original reports of the discovery put total reserves at almost 9 billion bbl oil and 200 billion cubic meters of gas, but these figures were denied by Morocco's Minister of Energy, who set the reserves at 2 billion boe—still enough to meet the country's energy needs for 25-30 years and give the Moroccan economy a massive boost.
The Sidi Belkacem (SBK) Prospect's Triassic TAGI reservoir was Lone Star's primary target for its SBK#1 well. It was encountered between 3,425 and 3,505 meters and two zones were selected for further tests and modeling. Reservoir pressure on a DST showed 7,175 psi, for a potential production rate of 2.5 million cf/d gas and a relatively small levels of oil.
According to the North Africa Journal, preliminary DST analysis indicates good reservoir conditions with reserves at 50-100 million boe. The company is drilling a sidetrack well to confirm the extent of the reservoir and accelerate field production., expected to commence in 2003.
Lower Jurassic dolomites were the well's secondary target, and produced positive indications of both oil and gas with potential reserves of 75-125 million boe. Analysis of both surface and wellbore seismic data is underway to delineate the prospect, particularly the potential of the structure's updip.
Lone Star is planning as many as 100 wells in the Talsinnt region. Recent revision of Morocco's hydrocarbon exploration law provides for a 25-year period of extraction with a possible 10-year extension and 10-year tax and import duty exemptions. The state's interest is limited to 25%, with onshore oil royalties at 10%, gas royalties at 5%.