Anchois Gas Project: UK Company Chariot agrees on terms of Moroccan gas sales

Chariot’s Anchois project offshore Morocco has taken a big step forward after the UK oil and gas company and its Moroccan partner “Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) agreed on Monday on key principles for long term gas sales from the Anchois Gas Project with the Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE).

Anchois hosts about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of potential gas resources and is being developed via subsea wells tied back direct to an onshore gas processing plant.

Chariot said that, together with its field partner, state-owned ONHYM, it has agreed key principles for long term gas sales from Anchois with Morocco’s National Office of Electricity & Drinking Water (ONEE).

Anchois is located within the Lixus Offshore licence, offshore Morocco in which Chariot holds a 75% interest and operatorship, alongside ONHYM which holds a 25% interest.

The signatories agreed on sales of up to 0.6 BCM per year (c. 60 mmscf per day) on a take or pay basis for a minimum of 10 years with gas to be delivered via the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline.

The agreement secures direct, domestic supply for Morocco’s existing and potential longer term gas power plant infrastructure.

ONHYM General Director, Mrs Amina Benkhadra, said that “agreeing on these key principles is indicative of our commitment to the development of the Anchois gas field. We are pleased to be working in partnership with Chariot on this asset which has the potential to deliver a range of benefits to the country.”

For his part, ONEE boss, Abderrahim El Hafidi, said :“The Anchois gas project will be an important source of domestic natural gas that will initially feed directly into ONEE’s power plants via the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline. We are interested to conclude this sales agreement and for Anchois to continue to progress towards production.”

Commenting the agreement on gas sales principles, Adonis Pouroulis, CEO of Chariot said: “this is a notable step forward for us in our journey towards gas production and underpins the project development plan and financing”.

He also thanked ONEE and ONYHM for their ongoing support, affirming that Chariot looks forward to continuing to work together to bring this important natural gas supply onstream and into the Moroccan market as quickly as possible.