Chariot encouraged by increase in net gas pay and excellent quality dry gas off Morocco

Post-well analysis of Chariot’s significant gas discovery at Anchois-2 well located within the Lixus licence, located offshore Morocco, has confirmed excellent quality dry gas and a significant increase in net gas pay, which will enable a simple development.

Chariot on Thursday provided an update on the post-well analysis of the Anchois-2 gas appraisal and exploration well on the Anchois gas project within the Lixus licence. Chariot has a 75 per cent interest and operatorship of Lixus in partnership with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) which holds a 25 per cent interest.

Chariot made the discovery in January 2022. The Anchois-2 well was drilled to a total measured depth of 2,512m by the Stena Don drilling rig in 381m of water. A week later, the well was suspended for potential future re-entry and completion as a production well in the development of the field. The rig then moved to the Anchois-1 gas discovery well to perform re-entry operations with the objectives of assessing the integrity of the previously drilled well.

According to the analysis, net gas pay estimates for Anchois-2 well, based on further interpretation of the well data, have been upgraded to approximately 150m from the previously announced preliminary analysis of greater than 100m, compared to the 55m in the original Anchois-1 discovery well.

Adonis Pouroulis, Acting CEO of Chariot, commented: “I am delighted to announce this very positive update on the analysis of the well data obtained from our successful gas drilling campaign on the Anchois project, offshore Morocco, including a significant increase in net gas pay to approximately 150m.

Furthermore, excellent quality dry gas was confirmed, with greater than 96 per cent methane, in all seven discovered gas reservoirs, without detrimental impurities such as H2S or CO2, supporting minimal gas processing required in the development.

A highly consistent gas composition potentially allows all gas produced from the different reservoirs to be processed through a single gas processing facility, enabling a simple development.

Chariot also said that further analysis is ongoing on the well data to understand the positive implications on gas resources and scale and economics of the development.

Pouroulis added: “This increase combined with the confirmation of excellent quality dry gas consistently across all the discovered gas reservoirs is extremely encouraging, as it will help enable a simple and standard development. Our ambition is to bring the Anchois gas development online quickly, to fuel Morocco’s economic growth, but also to deliver near-term cash flows to our shareholders. We will continue to work on an accelerated field development plan, for the benefit of all stakeholders.”