SDX has announced the commencement of the first, three well, phase of its 2021 drilling campaign in Morocco, which will comprise up to five wells over the year. This first phase of the Morocco drilling campaign will consist of three appraisal/development wells, which management estimates will target a total of 1.3 bcf of P90/1.8 bcf of P50, gross unrisked prospective recoverable resources, in its operated Gharb Basin acreage in Morocco (SDX: 75% working interest).

The first well, OYF-3, which spud on 30 April 2021, is  targeting the Guebbas reservoir at approximately 1,160m. The second well, KSR-17, will target the Hoot reservoir at approximately 1,720m and the third well, KSR-18, is a dual target well, with the first in the Guebbas reservoir at 1,600m and the second in the Hoot reservoir at around 1,790m. All three wells are looking to encounter shallow, biogenic gas accumulations near to the Company’s existing infrastructure, thus enabling tie-ins to be completed quickly and at low cost. The Company will utilise the drilling rig that is already stacked in its yard in Morocco, thereby incurring minimal mobilisation cost.

The campaign is expected to complete in July 2021, at which point the Company will update the market on results. The second phase of the Moroccan drilling campaign will commence in September/October 2021.

Mark Reid, CEO of SDX, commented:
“I am pleased to announce that the Company has commenced its 2021 drilling activities of up to eleven wells across our portfolio of assets with the spud of the OYF-3 appraisal/development well in Morocco. This is the first of three wells to be drilled in the coming months with a further two planned for later in the year. The objective of these wells is to add reserves to allow us to continue to deliver gas to our customers in line with their contractual requirements. The commencement of this campaign has been delayed by approximately one month due to covid-19 related travel restrictions delaying the mobilisation of equipment and personnel into Morocco. We would particularly like to thank our partner ONHYM for providing invaluable assistance in enabling us to obtain the necessary Government authorisations to mobilise the equipment and people into the country to commence the campaign last week.

The Company’s Egyptian drilling activities are expected to commence in June with the first of four development wells in West Gharib and the start of our very exciting two well campaign in South Disouq where the second well, the Hanut-1X exploration well planned for mid-Q3, will be targeting gross unrisked mean recoverable volumes of 139bcf with a 33% chance of success.

KeyFacts Energy: SDX Energy country/company profiles:   Egypt   l   Morocco