Chariot Discovers "Transformational" Gas Field off Morocco

Independent energy company Chariot has announced a "tremendous" offshore gas discovery at its Anchois (Anchovy) field off the coast of Rabat, Morocco.

The rig Stena Don drilled the Anchois-2 exploration well for Chariot beginning in December, and the results show a net gas pay of over 300 feet - twice the amount found in the first well drilled in the formation. Multiple layers of gas sands with "high quality reservoirs" were encountered, exceeding the company's expectations. 

Stena Don will now move ahead with further drilling at the Anchois-1 gas discovery well, which could become a future production well for the field. 

"Chariot . . . has made a significant gas discovery at the Anchois-2 well which materially exceeds our expectations. We continue to conduct further analysis on the data collected from the well, but as it stands, we believe the result is transformational for the company," said Chariot's acting CEO, Adonis Pouroulis. 

Anchois is located in Chariot's Lixus license block. Chariot has a 75 percent operating interest in partnership with Morocco's Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), which holds a 25 percent interest.

"Chariot is a totally different company today compared to what it was last week," Pouroulis told Proactive UK in an interview Monday. "We couldn't have asked for more from this well." 

There are additional unexplored target areas in the Lixis block with a similar seismic signature to Anchois-2, he added, raising the possibility that there could be more big finds to come. 

The firm's proposed field development strategy involves "subsea-to-shore" infrastructure. This would mean piping gas from a subsea manifold directly back to a central processing facility on shore in Morocco, with no offshore platform on site. 

The company says it has already lined up the  commercial elements required to bring the project to life, including a production offtake agreement for Anchois with a "prominent international energy group"; the backing of two major banks; and an agreement with an experienced development company capable of completing subsea gas projects. 

The discovery has already been transformational for investors: Chariot's shares on the LSE soared from £7.43 to £11.95 (up 60 percent) in early trading Monday, then subsided to £9.80 at market close (up 32 percent).