SDX Energy commences drilling at Gharb Basin acreage in Morocco

Oil and gas company SDX Energy has commenced a 12-well drilling programme at Gharb Basin acreage in Morocco.

The drilling campaign is targeting a mean 15bcf of gross unrisked prospective resources.

SDX Energy operates and owns a 75% working interest in the Gharb Basin acreage.

The first seven wells are the lower-risk appraisal wells located in the company’s core producing concessions at Sebou and Gharb Centre.

These wells target prospects near to existing infrastructure and are expected to increase reserves towards the continued supply of gas to the company’s existing customers.

They resemble similar geological risks as that of the other discoveries already producing in this area.

The drilling of these seven appraisal wells will be followed by two step-out exploration wells further to the north in Gharb Centre and outside the reach of the company’s existing infrastructure, which are alike the discoveries made in Sebou and Gharb Centre.

The last three wells of the campaign are expected to be higher-risk exploration wells in the Lalla Mimouna Nord concession, said SDX.

According to the company, these three wells will target larger prospects in deeper, yet unproven, horizons.

SDX Energy CFO and interim CEO Mark Reid said: “The final objective of the campaign is to test larger but higher-risk prospects in the Lalla Mimouna Nord concession.

“To do this, we plan to drill up to three wells, however, if the first well does not meet our expectations, we may move the rig back to our core producing area and complete the campaign by drilling two further lower-risk, but smaller, prospects to add additional reserves.”

In order to optimise the operational costs of the campaign, SDX has secured a North American rig in advance to reduce the drilling time of the rigs.

SDX Energy is set to complete drilling in the first quarter of next year.