Announcement of Gas Discovery in Morocco from the World Bank's First Assisted Exploration Project on January 7, 1982

,-·- t I . . f OR IMMEDIATE· RELEASF' ~World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE Contact: Akin Fatoyinbo January 7, 1982 (202) 477-5606 FIRST WORLD BANK-ASSISTED EXPLORATION PROJECT RESULTS IN GAS DISCOVERY IN MOROCCO An exploration project assisted by the Horld Bank has resulted in the discovery of gas and condensate in Morocco. The Ministry of Energy and Mines has announced that L'Office National de Recherches et d'Exploitations ~troli~res (ONAREP), the Moroccan state oil company, has recently conducted a successful test on an exploratory well located 31 km east of the port city of Essaouira. While the initial test on the discovery well appears encouraging, several additional wells will be necessary to determine the significance of this discovery. The ONAREP exploration program is being supported by a $50 million loan from the World Bank. This loan was made in April, 1980 and was the Bank's first loan for petroleum exploration. The objectives of the Bank loan are principally two-fold: to assist the ONAREP exploration program in the onshore Essaouira Basin; and to support reconnaissance seismic surveys in other onshore basins in order to make them more attractive to foreign oil companies. The onshore Essaouira Basin, which contains five small shallower Jurassic fields, was formerly under license to foreign partners who subsequently released all but small areas around three of these fields. This basin has been available to foreign participation since it was relinquished; the last formal offering was made in 1978, about one year before the World Bank considered its loan. The interest of foreign companies has increased during the past year, principally in offshore but also in onshore areas. Several new licenses are either in the process of being signed or are in the late stages of negotiations. Technical Note: The exploratory well which has yielded a successful test, Meskala-101, flowed gas at the rate of 6 million cubic feet per day plus 510 barrels condensate per day on a 12-hour test through a 1/4-inch choke. Flowing tubing pressure was 4,800 lbs. per square inch and the static formation pressure 8,900 lbs. per square inch. The producing interval is 11 ,070-11 ,129 ft opposite a Triassic sandstone reservoir. The discovery is the first deeper pre-Jurassic find in the Essaouira Basin. . . ./  - 2 - An appraisal well, the Meskala-102, currently drilling one mile north-northeast of the discovery, has penetrated the producing zone but has not yet been tested. About 50% of the World Bank loan has been disbursed so far. In • addition to the Meskala-101, and -102, this loan has also supported to date eight other exploratory wells: one pre-Jurassic dry hole, three Jurassic dry holes and one Jurassic test still active, all in the Essaouira Basin; and three Miocene tests in the Rharb Basin, all of which were small gas producers- - 0 - • •