Page 13 - AfrOil Week 36

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

Total Tanzania has had to take similar action wanted to remain in the country long enough to
in past years, Msuya-Kilewo added. Since the see the results of its efforts.
company finalised the acquisition of Gapco, she The company has invested approximately
explained, it has unloaded some of that com- $200mn in Tanzania over the last three years
pany’s storage depots, filling stations and other and commissioned a $20mn lubricant plant in
assets in order to streamline its business and Dar es Salaam in 2019, she stated. Some of the
eliminate redundancies. investments went into promising upstream and
“[This] is not the first time that we are sell- midstream projects, including but not limited
ing some of our property,” she told The Citizen. to the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP),
“Some months back, we sold some depots that she said.
used to belong to Gapco in Dar es Salaam.” “All our eyes and energies are now focused on
She also indicated that Total Tanzania the crude oil pipeline,” Msuya-Kilewo said. ™

PERFORMANCE
Chariot Oil & Gas raises reserve estimate

for Lixus block after re-processing data

MOROCCO CHARIOT Oil & Gas (UK) has wrapped up
efforts to re-process 3D seismic data from the
Lixus block offshore Morocco.
In a statement dated September 7, the com-
pany said that the programme had “[resulted]
in significant improvements in both image qual-
ity and in-depth control.” It also reported that
re-processing “has had a positive impact on the
understanding of the distribution and extent of
the Anchois gas sands.”
More specifically, Chariot noted that the
re-processing had led Netherland Sewell &
Associates Inc. (NSAI) to revise the resource
assessment for a section of the Lixus licence
area upwards by 148%. This 50-square km sec-
tion, which includes the Anchois field, is now The Lixus licence area lies offshore Morocco (Image: Chariot Oil & Gas)
thought to contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet
(28.3bn cubic metres) of natural gas in recover- the exploration prospectivity of the Lixus licence
able reserves, including 361bn cubic feet (10.2 is of a scale sufficient to provide the Moroccan
bcm) in 2C contingent resources and 690 bcf power sector with a clean, reliable, low cost and
(19.54 bcm) in 2U prospective resources. sustainable supply of gas for decades to come.”
The re-processing will also help Chariot Chariot said in June of this year that the
minimise costs when carrying out appraisal and Anchois field might eventually see production
development drilling projects at low-risk targets, peak at 53mn cubic feet (1.5mn cubic metres)
the statement said. This, in turn, will allow the per day. Sales of gas from the field could eventu-
company to maximise its cash flow, it noted. ally generate $150mn per year, it added.
It also stated that Chariot’s technical team At the time, Larry Bottomley, then serving as
would “[continue] to identify, evaluate and CEO, indicated that the company’s first priority
quantify additional material gas prospects in would be to deliver gas from Anchois to indi-
the Lixus licence based on the reprocessed data.” vidual thermal power plants (TPPs) in Morocco.
Adonis Pouroulis, the company’s acting He also said, though, that Chariot would
CEO, called the outcome of the re-processing be willing to sell its surplus production to local
programme a good sign for the Lixus project. industrial consumers or to traders working in
“The recent work on the Lixus licence confirms Spain.
the materiality of the Anchois gas field develop- Gas from Anchois can easily be transported
ment project,” he said. “We continue to hold the to Spain, Bottomley added. The Lixus block
view that this asset has the capacity to be a val- lies within 30 km of the site where the Magh-
ue-accretive and long-term project of national reb-Europe Gas (MEG) pipeline makes landfall
significance to Morocco. The Anchois develop- in Morocco, which “makes the export of gas into
ment has the potential to supply material gas vol- the Iberian Peninsula, a potentially lucrative
umes into existing markets in the near term, and market, feasible,” he commented.

Week 36 09•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13