LNG

Morocco, the North African kingdom advancing plans for floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) tenders to improve energy security, has also just acquired a UK company’s Moroccan natural gas assets and an LNG production project.

Morocco has signed a liquefied natural gas supply agreement with Shell for a period pf 12 years that will initially see volumes shipped as cargoes to Spain and onwards as pipeline gas across the Mediterranean to Moroccan gas-fired power plants.

SDX Energy plc, the UK-based oil and gas exploration and production company, said it had received multiple offers for its Egyptian natural gas assets and was considering them.

NewMed Energy, the Israeli company considering a floating liquefied natural gas plant to further develop the Leviathan gas field in the East Mediterranean, has expanded its activities by signing agreements for an exploration licence targeting gas offshore Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean.

NewMed signed an accord with Adarco Energy Ltd and Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines for natural gas and/or oil exploration and production activity in the Boujdour Atlantique exploration licence.

According to the agreements, NewMed will hold 37.5 percent of the interests in the exploration licence. Adarco will own 37.5 percent and the remaining 25 percent has been granted to Morocco’s ONHYM, the above body’s name in French, Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM).

NewMed’s East Med options include an FLNG facility or a pipeline connections to Egyptian liquefaction plants located east of Alexandria.

Among its assets, NewMed holds the rights to 45 percent of the Leviathan offshore gas field with the other major shareholder in the field being US major Chevron Corp. A smaller stake is held by Israel's Avner.

NewMed, which announced its name change from Delek Drilling in February 2022, also has its stake in the Aphrodite gas field in Cyprus's offshore economic zone waters, making it one of the biggest players in the East Med.

Moroccan potential

NewMed said that the North African kingdom had enormous geological and commercial potential.

The Boujdour Atlantique licence is in the south of Morocco’s EEZ and will be issued for a total of eight years.

According to the work plan, 30 months from the date of the granting of the licence, a geological and geophysical analysis will be performed in the area of interest and an initial exploration drilling is planned after around 2.5 years.

A statement said that the agreements were contingent on receipt of approval from Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition and sustainable development and from the Ministry of Finance.

“From one day to the next we are expanding our international operations and becoming a global body in every respect,” said Yossi Abu, Chief Executive of NewMed.

“We have long identified enormous potential in Morocco and the announcement is part of an extensive strategic move that will render NewMed Energy the leading energy body in the East Mediterranean region and North Africa,” stated Abu.

Harry Murphy, Director of Adarco, said his company’s principals have been active in the energy market for many years.

“We are delighted to be entering the Moroccan natural gas exploration sector in partnership with NewMed Energy, a leading energy company which has invested massively in the petroleum industry and has been involved in major discoveries over the past 30 years,” Murphy declared. 

Italian energy company Eni has agreed to sell a minority stake in two pipelines involved in transporting natural gas from Algeria to Italy for €385 million ($435M) to Italian LNG terminal and gas grid operator Snam.