Sound Energy on Course to Unlock Commercialization Plan of Gas Project in Eastern Morocco

Sound Energy, the European and African focused upstream gas company, announced that it has received a funding proposal for its Tendrara gas export pipeline in eastern Morocco from Advisory & Finance Group Investment Bank.

Sound Energy explained in a statement that after receiving a non-binding expression of interest from Oil & Gas Investment Fund (OGIF) in July 2016, in relation to OGIF’s interest in funding, building and operating a new pipeline connecting Tendrara to the Gazoduc Maghreb Europe (GME) pipeline, it has now received an indicative non-binding commercial proposal from Advisory & Finance Group Investment Bank (AFG), a Moroccan based financial institution, which acts as fund manager to OGIF.

The company added that the offer is subject to agreement of terms and contract and provides for funding the construction of the Tendrara Gas Export Pipeline (TGEP), connecting the gas well to the GME pipeline of between $60 million and $100 million.

The Company currently estimates the gross capital cost of the TGEP to be approximately $60 million for a 12-inch pipeline and $100 million for a 20-inch pipeline.

Besides its Tendrara wells, Sound Energy had announced that it would also start commercializing the first gas from Sidi Mokhtar in Essaouira Basin, central Morocco, by the end of 2017.

Several drillings for oil and gas operations are being conducted in Morocco, which imports about 95 percent of its energy needs. For foreign firms, the country represents a stable frontier in North Africa that is poised to be on the international gas map in the years to come.