As Morocco’s exploration prospects have waned so has the caliber of the firms doing the exploring. Europa Oil & Gas, a London-listed minnow with a princely $2mn in 2018 revenue and whose key assets are exploration blocks off the west coast of Ireland, on 18 September was awarded an 8-year license for a giant block off southern Morocco – acreage previously held by BP and Chevron.
The 11,228km2 Inezgane Offshore permit in the Agadir basin stretches from 600ms to 2000ms water depths. Europa considers the relatively near-shore portion the most prospective. In particular the area around the FA-1 well drilled by US firm Kosmos and partner BP in April 2014 (MEES, 16 May 2014). The two firms, key partners off Mauritania and Senegal to the south, gave up on what was then the Foum Assaka block in 2016 with BP quitting Morocco to boot. (CONTINUED - 261 WORDS)