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The Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment is in the process of approving the construction of an eventual 300MW capacity privately financed wind farm at Safi, Casablanca monthly Economie Entreprise reported. The estimated MD3.5bn ($358.6m) wind farm is planned by the Belgian-owned Compagnie Marocaine des Energies (CME), which expects to supply high-voltage industrial clients. Locally registered CME was created by Heverlee-based WindVision in 2012; its other shareholder is Euronext Brussels-listed Compagnie d’Entreprises CFE.

The positive impact on oil importers of the slump in crude prices since H2 2014 is visible in recently published Moroccan data, which show the trade deficit narrowing by 25.3% in January-May, compared to the corresponding period of 2014. The preliminary trade figures record crude oil imports down by 54% year on year and refined products falling by 29.1%. Exports rose by 5.8%, driven by a strong rise in phosphate sales (up 22.3%); Morocco is also benefiting from an improved agricultural performance and growth in some newer industries, such as automobiles (with exports up 11% in January-May).

State utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) is planning to launch major new solar and coal-fired projects and announce the winning bidders for its plan to install 850MW of wind power in the coming weeks. Speaking in Dubai on 10 June, ONEE director for power generation projects and programmes Tarik Hamane said the following developments were expected:

New details have emerged of the Moroccan government’s ambitious project to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) and develop six combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants with combined 6.3GW capacity, whose launch has been promised by energy minister Abdelkader Amara for some months. The Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment is expected to launch tenders for legal, technical and financial consultants “in a few weeks” to support the plan’s estimated $5bn first phase, which will make natural gas a key component in the wider energy mix, delegates at the AiX:Gas conference in London heard on 28 May.

The government’s ambitious plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to supply new power plants across northern and central Morocco is part of a wider strategy to develop a sustainable, diversified and secure energy mix, led by a project to install 2GW of solar and 2GW of wind capacity by 2020. Officials say that adding coal and gas baseload is essential not just for energy security and industrial development, but also to enlarge state utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE)’s grid, which by 2020 will have to carry much greater amounts of renewable energy.

Despite moves to mobilise new finance for the Mohammedia refinery, concern is growing about Société Marocaine d’Industrie de Raffinage (Samir)’s financial health and ability to remain the dominant player in the national products market. This follows the announcement of losses in 2014 and questions about the ability and appetite of the refinery’s ultimate owner, Saudi-Ethiopian magnate Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi, to meet heavy financial costs. Al-Amoudi’s business interests, including the Samir refinery’s Swedish-based owner Corral Petroleum Holdings, which holds 62.27% of the equity, have long been linked to the Saudi ruling family’s Al-Sultan branch.

Operator Oil and Gas Investment Fund (Ogif) has given AIM-listed Sound Oil a 30-day period of exclusivity in relation to a potential farm-in to the onshore Tendrara licence. Tendrara is currently held 75% by Ogif and 25% by the Office Nationale des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, and Sound said on 11 May it had offered to take a 55% operated interest. Sound, which is active offshore Italy, said the licence contained two stranded gas discoveries with low-risk appraisal potential, plus significant exploration upside.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Petroleum has signed a reconnaissance licence for the 3,433km2 Méditerranée Ouest area offshore northern Morocco. The agreement was signed in Casablanca at a ceremony attended by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Mubadala’s other African interests are limited to a 20% stake in Ophir Energy’s Tanzania Block 7 and 20% in Libyan onshore Block 103.

The inauguration by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his French counterpart Manuel Valls on 23 February of a strategically important electricity interconnection raises the prospect that North African renewable energy producers could eventually supply Western Europe. Despite the Desertec Industrial Initiative’s failure, a number of developers are still planning projects that could export solar power from North Africa to European Union (EU) markets; these include UK-based Tunur, which has plans for concentrated solar power in Tunisia.

It was all going so well, and could still do so, but Morocco’s hoped-for offshore boom is under pressure from the slump in crude prices, which has already altered the economics of many international oil companies (IOCs). Under the benevolent eye of Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) head Amina Benkhadra, IOCs entered the underexplored Moroccan offshore and onshore in considerable numbers in 2013-14. Many of the entrants were the majors (including BP, Chevron, Repsol and Total) and ‘super-indies’ that Onhym and political leaders in Rabat had long sought to entice into the hydrocarbons-poor kingdom, which for Moroccans includes the disputed Western Sahara.

Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Spanish partner Sener Grupo de Ingeniería have won the main engineering, procurement and construction, and operation and maintenance contracts for the second phase of the Ouarzazate solar complex. Moroccan Solar Agency (Masen) head Mustapha Bakkoury said that, as with the first phase at Ouarzazate – which is under construction – the ambitious Saudi company had won out with a very competitive financial bid for a parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant and solar tower. “Acwa Power largely showed its financial capacities in the first phase, when its bid was 21% lower than the second best bidder,” the Casablanca daily L’Economiste quoted a local expert as saying.

Circle Oil has announced a gas discovery with the KSR-12 well on the Sebou permit. The well is the third in a six-well programme on the onshore Rharb Basin permit in northern Morocco, and follows two earlier discoveries. Broker Investec described it in a research note as “the best result to date”.The well found a better-than-expected 20.5 metres of net pay in the Main Hoot interval and one metre in the Upper Hoot. In testing, the Main Hoot sands flowed at a sustained rate of 8.09mcf/d over eight hours with no decrease in wellhead pressure.

There have been several false dawns, with Moroccan governments promising a major new gas import scheme to provide energy security for two decades. But recent statements by energy minister Abdelkader Amara suggest Rabat is finally committing to LNG. Amara has said the long-awaited gas law will come before parliament by June (ahead of general elections in 2016), but before then the Islamist -led government plans to open talks on contracts to supply 3-5bcm/yr. Main competitors GDF Suez and Royal Dutch Shell have dedicated senior management teams to developing a Moroccan deal over several years.

France’s GDF Suez and Morocco’s Nareva Holding began commercial operation at the 301MW Tarfaya wind farm on 8 December. The €450m facility comprises 131 2.3MW Siemens turbines covering an area of 8,900ha and is expected to have a high load factor of 45%. Construction at the site began in January 2013 and the farm has been brought online in 50MW tranches since June this year.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board has approved a loan of €100m ($133m) for phase II of the Ouarzazate solar complex, as well as $119m from the Clean Technology Fund that was already announced by the World Bank. Phase II involves the construction of two separate power plants; 150-200MW Noor II, a parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) facility, and 100-150MW Noor III, a CSP tower. The project will be developed as a public-private partnership between the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) and a private developer for each power plant. The project company will build and operate the plants for 25 years.