Crunch time for Moroccan offshore as IOCs pick up the pace of exploration

The pace of exploration in the Moroccan offshore has speeded up considerably, with geologists hoping for parallels with Nova Scotia, Brazil’s Santos Basin and offshore Angola. Its advocates argue that Morocco is underexplored – with a drilling density of only 0.04 wells/100km2 – and offers a range of oil and gas, conventional and non-conventional prospects. But after a string of widely anticipated wells have come up dry, state oil and mineral resources company Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym), its international oil company (IOC) partners – some 34 are now in the kingdom – and investors are awaiting the significant find that will prove Morocco’s potential as an emerging hydrocarbons frontier.