On 30 April 2018, Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (Chariot) a partner to Eni in the Rabat Deep Offshore permit announced that the Rabat Deep 1 (RD-1) wildcat did not encounter a hydrocarbon accumulation. The well was drilled to a TD of 3,180 m to test the Jurassic aged JP-1 prospect. It penetrated a thick top seal and at the primary target intercepted tight fractured carbonates - evidence for the fractured nature of the carbonates was the excessive loss of drilling fluid. As a result of the drilling fluid loss, limited cuttings were recovered from the primary carbonate target however, limited hydrocarbon indications were observed. Electric Log data and sidewall cores were acquired, upon which detailed analysis will be undertaken. The data collected will be used to calibrate the existing data sets to understand the implications of the well results on the prospectivity of the surrounding area. Â Â Â Â   On 13 March 2018, Eni started drilling operations in the well using the âSaipem 12000â ultra-deepwater drillship.   Interest in the permit are shared between Eni (op, 40%), Woodside (25%), Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (Chariot) (10%) and the state company ONHYM (25% carried).  The JP-1 prospect was identified by 3D seismic reprocessing and interpretation as a large, 200 sq km four-way dip faulted Jurassic carbonate structure. It sits adjacent to source rock modelled to be oil generating and is supported by extensive on-block oil slicks, seeps and seismic direct hydrocarbon Indicators. Netherland Sewell and Associates Inc assessed a gross mean prospective resource of 768 million barrels.  An additional material six leads within the Jurassic fairway have also been identified within the block and any success in Prospect JP-1 would therefore offer significant follow-on exploration potential. The prospects identified in the permit, including JP-2, in the shallower Lower Cretaceous play, have a combined gross mean prospective resource of 1 billion barrels.  Background Information  In April 2001, Lone Star suspended operations in wildcat LBS 1, its first offshore well in the Loukos Offshore permit, at a location 60km north of Rabat. The well was drilled to a depth of 3,200m by the Zagreb I semisub, and was originally planned to be deepened to 3,600m in a sidetracked section from the top of the Cretaceous. The well had encountered pressure problems, due to a clay layer, which have led the operator to temporarily suspend drilling operations. Logging and tests remain to be carried out.   In the first quarter of 2003, MPE renewed by one year its contracts for six exploration permits which became valid until 14 December 2003. Four of them are located in the northern Atlantic waters and two in the onshore Essaouira Basin.   Lone Star Exploration Inc. (former operator) had announced plans for a second offshore well, called CSB 1, off Casablanca, in the Casablanca Offshore block I or II in 2001. That well would be drilled in water depth less than 100m to a planned total depth of about 2,750m.  On 11 October 2012, Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (Chariot) was reported to have been awarded four offshore exploration licences: the Loukos Offshore exploration permit covering 1,925 sq km on the shelf off Kenitra, Rharb Basin, the Casablanca Offshore I and II exploration permits located on the shelf off Casablanca, within the outline of the Safi-Rabat zone (1,010 and 1,990 sq km, respectively), and the 500 sq km Safi Offshore exploration permit located in the offshore Safi sector. The deal stipulates that Chariot will take on the work commitments and obligations of the initial exploration phase for each licence. This transaction remains subject to the approval of the Moroccan authorities. Chariot will hold a 75% equity interest in the permits and the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) will hold the remaining 25%.   On 13 November 2013, Chariot announced that it has relinquished the Casablanca/Safi Offshore reconnaissance licence. The company said that the associated risk remains too high to justify additional investment.  In early November 2013, Chariot completed the reprocessing and interpretation of extensive legacy 2D data on the Loukos licence. The company identified a significant Mio-Pliocene lead. This lead extends into Mohammedia and as a result the Company decided to relinquish those parts of the Loukos licence that it believed did not encompass this prospectivity and to request the award of the Mohammedia Reconnaissance Licence. In addition to the extension of the Mio-Pliocene lead from Loukos, Chariot has also identified a possible extension of the Jurassic shelf edge play from the Rabat Deep area into Mohammedia, which will be investigated further through seismic data acquisition.   On 17 March 2014, Chariot announced that it was awarded the Mohammedia Offshore reconnaissance licence by ONHYM. This licence covers 4,655 sq km in water less than 500 m depth. It is adjacent to the Company's Loukos and Rabat Deep licences. This 12-month period includes a commitment to acquire and process 250 km of 3D seismic data. Chariot will operate the block with 75% interest and ONHYM will carry the remaining 25%.   On 29 April 2014, Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (Chariot) announced that it had completed a 1,700 sq km 3D survey over its Mohammedia, Rabat Deep and Loukos Offshore licences, using Dolphin Geophysicalâs âSanco Swiftâ vessel. The survey comprises 1,075 sq km in Rabat Deep, 250 sq km in Loukos Offshore and 375 sq km in Mohammedia Reconnaissance. The objective of the combined survey is to mature drillable prospects in the Mio-Pliocene and Jurassic plays.  In mid-April 2015, Chariot announced that its partner Woodside had decided not to exercise its option to acquire another 25% interest in the 1,075 sq km Rabat Deep Offshore permits I-VI and take operatorship. Woodside will remain a partner on the licence.  Woodside had an option to acquire a further 25% interest of Chariot's equity and become operator of the licence in return for a full well carry up to an agreed cap consistent with other farm-outs concluded in the area.  The two companies signed in July 2014 a farm-out agreement for the Rabat Deep Offshore permits I-VI that allows Woodside to acquire 25% working interest in the permits, in return for paying 100% of the costs of the 3D seismic acquisition and processing incurred by Chariot. Woodside will also pay back costs and a carry on the planned multibeam side-scan sonar and seabed coring.   On 30 March 2015, Chariot reported that it had farmed out 40% of its interest in the Rabat Deep Offshore permits I-VI to Eni SpA. Under the agreement, Eni will acquire the operatorship, will carry Chariot for the drilling of the deepwater well on the JP-1 prospect to an undisclosed agreed cap and will carry Chariot for geological and administrative costs relating to work commitments in the next licence period. In addition, Eni will pay an undisclosed amounted for past cost.  On 7 September 2017, partner Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (Chariot) reported that the operator Eni has secured the âSaipem 12000â rig to be on location in the late Q1 2018.   On 27 February 2018, it was reported that Eni had decided to turn around the âSaipem 12000â ultra-deepwater drilling rig from Offshore Cyprus to offshore Morocco to drill the new-field wildcat RD-1 well (JP-1 prospect) in Rabat Deep Offshore permit. The decision was made following the intervention Turkish military ships to stop drilling operations in Cyprus offshore.
Rabat Deep 1 op. by Eni (40%, Woodside 25%, Chariot 10%, ONHYM 25%) in Rabat Deep block, P&A dry. Intersected a thick top seal and drilled into the primary target encountering tight, fractured carbonates.