The Moroccan government has awarded the exploration license for the Rissana Offshore Basin to UK-based multinational independent oil and gas exploration company Chariot.
The license comprises an 8,489 km² basin surrounding Chariot’s existing offshore license, Lixus. According to the terms of the license, Chariot – through a wholly owned subsidiary – will hold a 75% interest while the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) will hold a 25% interest.
“We are pleased to formally award Chariot the Rissana license, offshore Morocco,” stated Amina Benkhadra, General Director, ONHYM, adding that, “ONHYM and Chariot recently conducted a highly successful drilling campaign in Morocco, and we hope that we will be able to have similar success on Rissana.”
In 2022, Chariot completed drilling at the Anchois field in the Lixus prospect, revealing sizeable new gas discoveries. Chariot will now proceed with conducting a 2D seismic survey in its new exploration license as a first step to exploring the potentially gas rich Rissana basin.
“As we demonstrated with our recent successful drilling campaign at Anchois, this is a highly prospective basin and, along with the Lixus Offshore Licence, the award of Rissana ensures that we have captured the exploration upsides in this exciting play. In parallel with the development plans on the Anchois gas field, we aim to maximise value from the exploration upsides in what we believe is a low risk and high value opportunity,” stated Adonis Pouroulis, the Acting CEO of Chariot.
