Companies operating gas-producing assets in North Africa have started targeting the commodities-strapped European market as geopolitical tensions escalate as Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine. The companies hope to ride on the proximity to Europe as well as planned and existing pipeline infrastructure that would allow them quickly supply the continent as many countries in the European Union bloc seek to shun away from Russian products.<\/p>\n
One such company Predator Oil and Gas operating assets in Morocco says it is looking northwards even as it continues\u00a0appraising and developing its MOU-1 gas discovery located in \u00a0the Guercif Licence. In its latest update the company says it hopes the release of the Competent Persons Report announced last month defining material contingent gas resources will continue to act as a catalyst for attracting significant interest in the Company’s plans to further explore, appraise and develop gas in an area covering 7,269 km\u00b2.<\/p>\n
“Morocco is a country very close to Europe and strategically located to become a potential future gas supplier for the continent by means of a significant expansion of exploration and development,” the company said<\/p>\n
The asset is connected to the European gas grid through the Maghreb gas pipeline.<\/p>\n
The Company has signed Confidentiality Agreements with a company based in the United Arab Emirates and an Asian exploration and production company\u00a0 to evaluate the exploration, appraisal and development opportunities in the area covered by the\u00a0Guercif Petroleum Agreement.<\/p>\n
Separately the Company has signed a Confidentiality Agreement with a company in the downstream sector in Morocco to work together to optimise the potential market for gas from the area covered by the Guercif Petroleum Agreement.<\/p>\n
The Company continues to focus on the logistical planning for follow-up drilling to\u00a0MOU-1\u00a0with the objective of developing a multi-well drilling and testing programme (already including\u00a0MOU-4<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0MOU-5<\/em>) to provide economies of scale to spread fixed drilling and well services costs across several wells.<\/p>\n “The recent increased perception of the value of gas assets close to the European gas network has created additional financing opportunities for drilling and development that potentially reduce in the medium term or may even eliminate in the short term the requirement for significant shareholder dilution,” Predator Oil adds.<\/p>\n Predator continues to execute its work programme, which is fully funded, to increase the scale and diversity of its exploration portfolio of prospective leads as follows:<\/p>\n