On 2 October 2018, SDX Energy was formally awarded the Sidi Al Harati Ouest production concession, on an initial six-year term. The application for the 0.24 sq km block, located in the onshore Gharb Basin, was submitted on 17 July 2018. The acreage is a carve out from the company's Sebou Central exploration permit, awarded in September 2017. The new production licence contains the Sidi Al Harati 2 (SAH 2) well, drilled February-March 2018. It encountered a 5.2m net gas pay in two intervals in the Miocene Guebbas and Hoot formations, testing at an average flow rate of 12.9 MMcfg/d and a maximum rate of 13.5 MMcfg/d, on a 40/64" choke. The well reached a TD of 1,304m and was drilled by the XCD Drilling #3 rig. Test production from the well is now planned. SAH 2 is understood to have been an appraisal of the 1985 SAH 1 discovery, drilled by Petrofina ~0.9km to the NE. It reached 1,499m TD, encountering gas in the Miocene. In June 2014, Circle Oil made a Miocene gas discovery in the Sidi Al Harati West 1 (SAHW 1), located ~0.7km SW of SAH 1. It was tied into production in 2015. SAH 2 formed part of the company's nine-well campaign in the country in 2018, following the acquisition of Circle Oil's Moroccan assets in January 2017. The Sebou Central permit contains 16 Miocene sandstone discoveries, with just eight of the fields currently producing. SDX is aiming to reach a gross production target of ~8-10 MMcfg/d by the end of 2018. The company operates the concession with 75% equity, in partnership with ONHYM (25%, carried).
Morocco, Sebou Central