January 2020

SDX Energy, the MENA-focused oil and gas company, announced last week that the OYF-2 well in Morocco encountered commercial quantities of gas in excess of pre-drill estimates. The discovery in which SDX holds a 75% working interest further ramps up renewed interest in the North African oil and gas sector after a period of playing second fiddle to discoveries in sub-saharan Africa.

The news of the SDX Energy discovery is the latest positive news flow for the nascent Oil and Gas sector in Morocco. Europa Oil & Gas secured a new exploration permit offshore Morocco in September 2019, while Dallas-based Hunt Oil signed an MOU in late 2019 with ONHYM. Meanwhile the Tendrara Gas Export Pipeline being proposed by Sound Energy to connect a gas treatment plant and compression station to Gazoduc Maghreb Europe pipeline received environmental impact assessment approval in early 2020.

The Morocco Gharb Basin in western Morocco, greater Tendrara to the east, as well as significant offshore exploration potential will continue to entice operators. Significantly, Morocco, unlike many of its African neighbours, benefits from attractive domestic gas prices and an annualised 7% increase in energy demand. The domestic market is currently dominated by the Jorf Lasfar power project, but with 40% of the population still without power, operators have a readymade market of 15 million possible consumers.

SDX now moves further North with three more wells completing the current Morocco drilling campaign. ONHYM Director General Amina Benkhadra and hundreds of executives descended on Paris in 2019 to discuss, debate and seek funding solutions to support exploration and production on the continent at the Oil and Gas Council Africa Assembly. The 10th Oil & Gas Council Africa Assembly, 23 – 24 June 2020, a permanent fixture in Paris for a decade where the Council will once again offer executives a chance to meet institutional investors, fund managers, buy-side analysts and other capital market actors who continue to remain bullish about the Africa hydrocarbon space. To find out more about the Africa Assembly please visit the website or download the brochure.