Page 6 - AfrOil Week 09 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

Chariot wins 75% stake in Rissana block

MOROCCO AIM-LISTED Chariot announced on Monday be able to have similar success on Rissana.”
(February 28) that it had secured a 75% stake Chariot also holds a 75% stake in Lixus,
in Rissana, a licence area surrounding its Lixus with ONHYM owning the remaining 25%. The
block in Morocco’s offshore zone. UK-based company reported a gas discovery in
In a statement, Chariot said that one of its the Anchois-2 well in January of this year, say-
wholly-owned subsidiaries had established a ing that the thickness of the new reservoir had
partnership with Morocco’s Office National des topped 100 metres, making it almost twice as
Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) for the thick as that in the Anchois-1 well.
project. The latter will retain a 25% interest in OHNYM and Chariot have said they believe
the scheme, which is designed to help the com- Anchois holds at least 1 trillion cubic feet
pany explore areas that may be on trend with (28.3bn cubic metres) in recoverable reserves.
Anchois, the natural gas field discovered within The two companies intend to drill two devel-
the Lixus block, and reinstate the areas of the opment wells at the field and use subsea tie-ins
block formerly known as Mohammedia into its to connect them to a subsea manifold outfitted
portfolio, the statement said. with a 40-km flowline that pumps gas to an
Chariot’s initial licence commitment pro- onshore processing facility. This facility, in turn,
vides for the acquisition of 2D seismic data will be linked to an existing trunk pipeline that is
from the Rissana block, which covers an area of used to export North African gas to Europe via a
around 8,489 square km. The company hopes 40-km onshore pipe. ™
that these seismic data will help evaluate the
extent and potential of gas plays in this section
of Morocco’s offshore zone.
As of press time, Chariot had not divulged
full details of the deal. However, acting CEO
Adonis Pouroulis remarked: “We are delighted
to have been formally awarded the Rissana
licence. 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.”
Meanwhile, ONHYM’s General Director
Amina Benkhadra commented: “We are pleased
to formally award Chariot the Rissana licence,
offshore Morocco. ONHYM and Chariot
recently conducted a highly successful drilling
campaign in Morocco, and we hope that we will The Rissana licence area surrounds the gas-bearing Lixus block (Image: Chariot)

Seplat Energy to buy ExxonMobil’s

shallow-water assets in Nigeria

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S Seplat Energy has announced plans The transaction will involve the acquisition
to acquire Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited of ExxonMobil’s entire offshore shallow-water
(MPNU), a subsidiary of the US supermajor portfolio in Nigeria. Seplat’s CEO Roger Brown
ExxonMobil, in a deal that would make it among said the purchase would support the compa-
the largest independent energy companies listed ny’s drive to become the leading independent
on the London and Nigerian exchanges. upstream operator in Nigeria.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 02•March•2022